HEY 19 (Aden); A
very low key record, that unfortunately crosses my fine line between the
engaging, often outstanding work of Yo La Tengo and the near elevator music from
some hip indie bands of the new millenium. There is little variation in tempo - and when they try,
it doesn't work. The songs here are slight, feeling like they could
float away, and the playing follows the same cue. The vocals are very
annoying, almost a high-pitched monotone. He sounds like Art Garfunkel
(just to clarify, this is mostly not a good thing!)

Country Bar in the City is an OK song. This is not a terrible
record, just boring. Which, come to think of it, makes it a pretty
terrible record.

MY GRADE >> C- (Not much hope here.) -jb-

JUST
PUSH PLAY (Aerosmith);
Granted that Aerosmith was never more than a Stones knock-off, and Mick,
Keith and the boys have
floundered about for over 20 years now to find a style that could work like
back in the day. But Stephen Tyler is still doing the same shtick, and it only
occasionally rises to anywhere near the level of Aerosmith's best, much less
any of the Stones' best work.

Just Push Play continues the formula that
Aerosmith has been mixing during their post-rehab rise from the gutter.
Take a few generic rockers, add a few power ballads, shake a little (but not
too much!) and serve lukewarm.

This record's only good song is a ballad - who would've thought? Jaded
works because Tyler and Company do not oversell it. It is just natural;
you can almost see the kids slow-dancing to this at the prom. The title song is a try at updating
the "Big Ten-Inch" sound of their hey-day. However, it pretty much fails miserably - only the chorus, which is classic Aerosmith,
works. TripHoppin also feels like more of that old Aerosmith sound. But the song has nothing to do with trip hop. Nothing else
here leaves any sort of impression. Lame ballads, tossed-off blues rock,
you've heard it all before.

BLACKJACK DAVID (Dave Alvin); I
consider Dave Alvin to be one of the best songwriters of the last 20
years. Since the Blasters, this has produced some fine songs and records,
most notably Blue Blvd. In general, his work as a solo artist has
excelled more in the songwriting than in the execution. His singing and
playing, and that of his musicians, has not risen to the level of the
songs.

But, on this record, it all comes together. As
expected, the songs are uniformly excellent. The difference is that
Alvin's vocals fit this material perfectly, and the various guitars on these
mostly acoustic numbers are outstanding. In addition to Alvin, credit
would appear to be due to multi-instrumentalist and producer Greg Leisz.
My favorite songs here are From a Kitchen Table (an absolutely
breathtaking song, featuring some of the most vivid lyrics I've ever heard -
see, Steve, I do like lyrics!- and, a mournful, soulful clarinet solo), The
Way You Say Goodbye, Laurel Lynn and Abilene. Other
highlights are the title song, 1968, Mary Brown, California
Snow, Evening Blues and New Highway. That amounts to
just about all of the songs on the record!

While the dominant tone of this record falls into the
"alt-country" and "folk" genres, that is much too narrow to
capture the breadth of this record. Like his songwriting peers Dylan,
Springsteen and Steve Earle, Dave Alvin's songs are able to work in many
different contexts. I am thrilled to say that Alvin has now made a record
that ranks with some of the finest from these other artists

MY GRADE >> A+ (The best record yet from this American treasure)

HER WALLPAPER REVERIE (Apples in
Stereo); More pop music from this Denver-based band, this is more ambitious and Beatle-like than
Fountains of Wayne. Also, be warned; although there are 15 songs listed on
the album, half are short instrumental transition pieces - total album time is
27 minutes.

The Shiney Sea, Ruby and the others are very nice songs, and
are more varied than I am used to in this type of music. (Bad word alert -
the fine song about Y2K contains some cussing.) The music is heavy
on studio trickery; I am sure this band memorized every Brian Wilson and Sgt.
Pepper idea. Strawberryfire mimics Strawberry Fields Forever;
I'm really surprised they haven't been asked to share the royalties.

This sounds like I am damning with faint praise, and maybe I am. There
is not one bad song on the record, and it is different than much of what is out
there today. It is just too slight, too weightless, and ultimately it
floats away; like a pleasant dream, it feels nice, but makes no lasting
impression.

MY GRADE >> B (Inventive, if you like this kind of studio
stuff.)

RELATIONSHIP OF COMMAND (At
the Drive-In); An acclaimed band from El Paso,Texas, their sound
owes much to the Washington, D.C. hardcore scene, most notably Fugazi. In
fact, Mannequin Republic, Quarantined (kicking off with a nice bass
riff) and Rolodex Propaganda could be prime Fugazi. While they
have certainly honed their punk attack to martial precision, At the Drive-In
adds nice touches here and there to break up the full frontal assault, such as
the melodic guitar fills on Pattern Against User. Invalid Litter Dept. actually
conveys a Flaming Lips feel; the song seems nicely out of place and is the most distinctive
song here.

But make no mistake, the essence of the band is captured in tunes like the
raging Sleepwalk Capsule.

MY GRADE >> B (Good hardcore songs played with ferocious
precision, and just enough variety to keep you guessing.)

HOUR
OF BEWILDERBEAST (Badly Drawn Boy);
Badly Drawn Boy is a pseudonym for Damon Gough. Who is
Damon Gough? I don't know. And why does he need a
pseudonym? Pretentious, usually British, rock star attitude
maybe? Say, how come
there are not more Americans named Damon?

Now, lets not be catty. This is actually an exceptional record, the
debut full-length from BDB. They remind one of a brighter British version of Yo La Tengo
(one of my favorite bands) in some places,
and a softly strumming folkie in others. Much of this type of
delicate pop music is just too slight for my taste, but Gough is able to
provide some robustness to even his gentler melodies.

The Shining starts the record off with a beautiful gentle song; this could be the sentimental ballad in a very good
Broadway musical (OK, that last part may be an oxymoron!) Everybody's
Stalking then follows, a good song, with an even better title; Gough's
vocals recall latter-period John Lennon.

The title song is an agreeable instrumental, stuck in the middle of the CD,
leading nicely into Magic in the Air, featuring a gorgeous piano
melody. Other highlights include Camping Next to Water, Another
Pearl, Once Around the Block, Pissing in the Wind (a
more pleasant song than you would think) and Say it Again.

While there are moments of pretentious arty fluff, such as Cause a
Rockslide, this is overall a shining beacon at the forefront of modern
British rock. Badly Drawn Boy is not out to rock your socks off;
rather, they prefer to charm them off you.

THE SOUNDS OF SCIENCE (Beastie
Boys); An anthology from one of the most innovative, if utterly
undiscriminating bands of the 90s, this record is a fair representation of their
output. The record covers their early days as hardcore punks, through the
"Run-DMC for white frat boys" phase and into their current role as the
disapproving older brother of the Limp Bizkit Nation. The great thing
about the Beastie Boys is that they have recorded excellent songs through each
stage of their career. I have never been a huge fan of their albums,
because of their tendency to put all of their ideas on the record, regardless of
merit. Thus, an anthology is a good summary for fans like me. There
seem to be enough outtakes/rarities to impress the diehard fan, as
well.

First, we can skip over the unfortunate experiments - a
truly bad cover version of a truly bad song (Benny and the Jets), which
must be heard once, and then never again; 2 goofy country songs by Mike D., and
most of the punk/hardcore here, except for I Want Some and the
interesting Time
For Livin'. The bulk of this record consists of my favorite Beasties
songs from Fight For Your Right, through Pass the Mic, Sure
Shot, Sabotage, So What'cha Want, and up to the recent Intergalactic.
Additionally, I discovered several other fine songs that I had not heard, or had
previously overlooked. The best of these are Slow and Low, Gratitude,
Body Movin' (remixed here spectacularly by Fat Boy Slim), Song for the
Man, Shadrach and Son of Neckbone.

An additional bonus is the booklet with pictures and
commentary from the Beasties. The band has long been one of the more
astute observers of the music scene, and they demonstrate a fine ability to
place their music in the context of their careers and the times. They
appear to have an encyclopedic knowledge of 20th century music, and their
narratives explain their approach to the material. They present a reasoned
history and assessment of Fight for your Right, which made them stars,
despite the song being a throwaway, unrepresentative of most of their
work. In pointing out how the remixed Body Movin' echoes Tommy
Roe's Dizzy, they made my day by making me hear something in the song I
had missed, as well as reminding me of one of my favorites songs from my
pre-teen years. Hard to beat that combination.

MY GRADE
>> A- (Great songs for the most part, and never boring)

MIDNITE VULTURES (Beck); Another
genre mishmash from Beck, this record has more in common with his hit record, Odelay,
than with his last record, the slow-paced Mutations. For those
unfamiliar with Beck Hansen, he is the most unlikely "funk soul
brother" since David Byrne of Talking Heads (see my comments on the 15th
anniversary release of Stop Making Sense in Assorted
Musings.) The short story on Odelay is that Beck took a
rap aesthetic, and threw in everything else he could think of to come up with a
fine record, packed with diverse musical elements. No minimalist is he!

The new record is based on a 70s soul aesthetic - horns, funk guitar, cheesy
synthesizers, falsetto vocals. But, of course that is merely a starting
point for Beck: the kitchen sink is once again thrown in. Amazingly, Beck
pulls this off. The record kicks off with Sexx Laws, a salacious
song, lyrically and musically. Nicotine & Gravy showcases
some of Beck's creative, if nonsensical lyrical rhyming ("I think we're
going crazy/Her left eye is lazy/She looks so Israeli/Nicotine and
gravy".) Mixed Bizness is the most successful song on the
record - it defies you to sit still, and features an absolutely killer horn
sequence at the end. Other highlights are Debra (very Prince-like
circa mid 1980s), Get Real Paid (featuring a textbook usage of
synthesizers), Hollywood Freaks, Peaches & Cream and Milk&
Honey

At the end of the record, it is hard to describe the appeal of this record,
just like with Odelay. The 70s soul style is not one that I would
instantly gravitate to and it took a few listens for me to begin to pick up
everything that Beck is trying to do with this record. Largely, I think he
succeeds, and I have listened to this more each week.

MY GRADE >> A- (The best songs don't quite measure up to Odelay
standards, but this remains a very worthy followup. I have a feeling that
this grade could actually go up over time.)

BIG HELLO (Big Hello);
This is a 1998 release by a band that I saw at Taste of Chicago, on a small side
stage. I liked their 30 minute set so much, that I bought their CD on the
spot. Their music has a punchy 80s new wave feel; the female lead vocals
are reminiscent of the best of Blondie and the Pretenders. Lyrics have a
decidedly 90s feel, and one song has a cuss word, so watch out with the kids
around. While this is not groundbreaking in any way, it is a very solid
debut. O' Canada, Star 69, Riot Gurl, and Clouds
Cover the Mountain are first among a batch of solid rockers.

MY GRADE >> B+ (Recommended; worth the money)

VESPERTINE
(Bjork);
Let's talk about Bjork and Yorke, two vocalists who have dedicated, often
fanatical followings. Possessed of two of the most distinctive voices
in rock music, Bjork and Yorke cast about for the right musical framework to
build around those voices. Thom Yorke has Radiohead, a fantastic band,
and he also (usually) has the proper sense of restraint to know when to
unleash his instrument.

Bjork is like Thom Yorke without a band or any good sense to reign him
in. Come to think of it, even when she was in a band (Sugarcubes), she
was no better. Her classically great voice should be doing opera, not pop or
rock music, much less the vague ambient soundscapes of Vespertine.

A record like this, and an artist like Bjork, are difficult
to review. If you like Bjork, you will probably like this. As for
me, I found it painful to listen to in spots (Aurora, Hidden Place) and merely boring in
others (Cocoon, Frosti, Undo.) As such, it is easy for the few good moments to stand out even
more! The production duo of Matmos is credited with beat programming here,
and they produce some interesting effects. It's Not Up to You and Unison
are good songs,
where she largely (and thankfully) adopts a more straight-forward vocal style.

LIONS (The Black Crowes);
Despite the Black Crowes’ desire not to sell out, this raunchy blues-based
rock and roll band is little more than a rock and roll cliché.The drug excesses, the stormy relationships leading to numerous
personnel changes, the two brothers who just cannot get along – it has all
been done before and done better.

They are from the South but their musical roots in the blues comes from
across the pond in the sounds of the Rolling Stones, Faces, and Led
Zeppelin.Coming off their recent concert dates with Jimmy Page, it is easy to understand why the Black
Crowes’ sixth album, Lions is
more Zeppelin and less Stones.Consequently,
Lions is an album looking for and
failing to find a groove.

Fuzzy psychedelic guitars start things off with two
lackluster songs in Midnight From The Inside Out and Lickin’.They finally get rocking on the third song, Come On with Chris
Robinson singing, “Come on come on/Let’s get this thing started.”However, the Robinson brothers, Chris and Rich, fail to follow their own
advice and slow things down again with two ballads.Both songs have a polarized-emotion theme going.In No Use Lying, it is “I’m here to stay…I’m gone and you
can’t catch me.”While Losing
My Mind goes with the “I love you…Yes, I hate you” tug of war.Ozone Mama has a nice slow groove and Soul Singing is a
gospel-inspired song complete with background singers.But the song is too slow and includes the lyrics, “Tired of my heart
turned upside down/Now my life’s a smile not a frown.”Ugh.

Miracle To Me breaks a trend with more coherent
lyrics, but continues the trend of having little energy.Young Man, Old Man has a Sly Stone slow boogie going with the
drums and added percussion.Unfortunately,
the bass and guitar work are a bit too heavy to lift the song off the ground.Song eleven is Cosmic Friend, which has more of the Led Zeppelin
sound, and fails to fly.“You
know just what to do/Put on track eleven/Get on with the groove.”Problem is, there is no groove going on here.Cypress Tree is the most interesting song on the album.It is about a friend who happens to be a killer.It is Chris Robinson’s best vocal performance along with the final
song, Lay It On Me.

The Black Crowes can seamlessly go from rocker to ballad
without missing a beat.Chris
Robinson’s vocals help to distinguish them from other bands.But on Lions, there is little
energy to separate the rockers from the ballads.The lyrics are uninspired and the vocals seem tired.

This, in more ways than one, has been considered a comeback
album for the Black Crowes.But
this seems more like the winter of their career.While they should be going to the South to find their roots, the Black
Crowes are not flying anywhere.They
have lost their direction and their energy.

MY GRADE >> C-(They
may not be selling out to Corporate America, but they are not rocking out
either.)
- sh -

JUST LIKE HOME (The Blacks); The
Blacks (Danny and Gina, with James Emmenegger on drums) had a fine record with
1998's Dolly Horrorshow. This new record is not bad, but not up to
previous standards. They are on Bloodshot Records, Chicago's home of
insurgent country, but their music respects no boundaries. This disc has
virtually nothing in common with their labelmates.

At their best, as on Head on a String and Call,
the music has a wonderfully propulsive feel, featuring Gina Black's luminous
voice. Off the Couch and Foggy Minded Breakdown showcase
Danny's most effective vocals on this record. Fake Out Jesus is
fine musically, but suffers from weak vocals. Goin' Out
West, a Tom Waits song, is a good fit for the Blacks - their Waits-like
musical and vocal diversity is showcased well. The other songs are an
unremarkable lot.

This band has a great album in them somewhere, which I
eagerly await.

MY GRADE >> B- (Okay, but they need to come up with
consistently better songs to match their adventurous musicality)

HILL (Richard Buckner);
This is a record based on the classic Spoon River
Anthology by Edgar Lee Masters. Buckner sets the stories to a
type of backwoods folk music, attempting to complete the picture that
Masters laid down in the book. This record reminds me of a Richard
Thompson record without the hooks or the sharp lyrics. Buckner is a
fine guitarist and distinctive vocalist, but (like Thompson at times), he
struggles to create anything consistent here. Despite its indie,
low-budget pedigree, the production is excellent. Some of the pieces
are fine - in particular, the instrumentals (Elmer Karr, Willard
Fluke, Nellie Clarke - song titles are names of people in case
you're wondering.) The few "rock-like" songs are among the best (
Johnnie Sayre, Amanda Barker and Reuben Pantier, the
latter with his best vocals on the record.)

This is a weird record. I liked it better with each listen, but it was
never a truly enjoyable experience. Hill reminds me of many of the
"classics" I had to read in high school English class - I knew they
were supposed to be good for me, but they were a real struggle to get through.

MY GRADE >> C+ (Arty, ambitious, but not very successful.)

KEEP IT LIKE A SECRET (Built to Spill);
A really fine record (released 1999), with a sound that is hard to compare to
other rock records. The closest I can come is Flaming Lips (with lyrics
like "I don't like this air/but that doesn't mean I'll stop breathing
it"), but with a much more straightforward sound. The drummer
is the excellent Scott Plouf, formerly (?) of the Spinanes. Standout
tracks are The Plan, Center of the Universe, Carry the Zero.
You Were
Right is an excellent song that keys off of song titles from "classic"
60s & 70s songs. ("You were right when you said a hard rain's
gonna fall, you were right when you said you can't always get what you want, you
were right when you said we were all just dust in the wind", etc. - Trust
me, it sounds better than it reads!)

MY GRADE >> A (Highly recommended)

NO
MORE SHALL WE PART (Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds);
I was once a typical isolated, overly dramatic teenage English major, so I
should have some appreciation for Nick Cave. But, the lure of his
poetic efforts, reeking of 19th century Romantics, has continued to elude
me. This stuff probably appeals mostly to people who spend a lot of time feeling sorry for
themselves, and if Cave helps them feel better, well, hey, great. But,
overall, his music has mainly been a bore.

No More Shall We Part is certainly well-crafted minimalist music,
featuring little but piano, violin and Cave's vocals. He is an
undeniably compelling vocalist, who does his best to sell the
material. The first song, As I Sat Sadly By Her Side, showcases
his signature vocals, backed by tasteful piano. The lyrics, though,
match the overall downbeat tone. After his girlfriend (or daughter?)
marvels at the passing parade of humanity outside her window, Cave feels
compelled to roll in and empty the clouds. "'That may be very well,' I
said, 'But watch that one falling in the street/See him gesture to his
neighbors, see him trampled beneath their feet/All outward motion connects
to nothing, for each is concerned with their immediate need/ Witness the man
reaching up from the gutter, see the other stumbling on who does not
see." I bet this guy is a hoot at parties!

Love Letter is the best song here, with beautiful spare piano and the best use of Cave's
vocals. Hallelujah is also a nice song, featuring the excellent
violin work of Warren Ellis. Gates to the Garden also has some
nice moments.

Over the course of 12 long songs, however, it just becomes too
much. Not that this should be a surprise from
the quintessential Prince of Darkness. The title song, Sweetheart
Come, God is in the
House and The Sorrowful Wife, cross the line
from slow and entrancing to slow and boring. Fifteen
Feet of Pure White Snow and Oh My Lord do burst briefly into rock music
territory, but the latter song is hurt by vocals with Cave at his most
overly dramatic.

I am sure that there are people who adore this music, and you cannot
fault Cave's effort here. But, once again, he is merely preaching to the choir.

SURRENDER (Chemical Brothers);
This record is nominally in the "techno" genre. Chemical
Brothers are the most commercially popular techno act, which means that they
probably have little credibility left with the hard core techno fans.
Whatever, this is easily the best techno record I have ever heard. I never
liked most of this genre because the songs sound too similar. Chemical
Brothers have solved this problem by writing actual songs, and
then applying the production techniques that are the heart of techno.

Chemical Brothers have also been almost perfect in their
choice of collaborators from the more traditional rock world. They used
Beth Orton and Noel Gallagher (of Oasis) to great effect on their previous
record, the very solid Dig Your Own Hole. On Surrender, the
spectacular track is Out of Control, featuring Bernard Sumner of New
Order. Admittedly, I really liked New Order, and miss the music they put
out in their prime. Out of Control is a spectacular return to the
New Order sound with the production effects of the Chemical Brothers added to
the mix. This song should keep them on the dance floor all night. Let
Forever Be is another winning foray with Gallagher. I'll tell you, it
is a tribute to the Chemical Brothers that the only two Noel Gallagher songs I
like are not on Oasis records. Asleep From Day, a song with Hope
Sandoval (OK, I had never heard of her, either) is yet another happy marriage of
fine songwriting with techno production.

Most of the remaining tracks here are good, the features
being The Sunshine Underground, Music: Response, Under the
Influence. This record sounds great blasting from the car stereo, or
from any decent set of stereo speakers. (Admittedly, the effect is even
better if you imagine yourself dancing the night away in a hot nightclub.)

MY GRADE >> A (One of the top records of 1999, and the best
techno record ever for my money!)

REPTILE (Eric Clapton);
Bashing Eric Clapton is kind of like bashing your kindly old
grandfather. Sure, he may be your filthy rich, former heroin addict,
rock superstar grandfather, but still...

Let's face it, Clapton never was a great songwriter, vocalist or
bandleader. He is a fine and inventive guitarist, but there is no
reason that he should not have gone quietly to wherever old rock guitar
heroes go in their dotage. (Hello, Jeff Beck; hey, there, Robin Trower.)
In fact, were it not for the tragedy of Tears in Heaven, Clapton's
commercial fortunes would undoubtedly be little better than Beck's (Jeff,
that is.) Of course, the sad part of this is that Tears
is one of Clapton's finest songs - sincere, emotional, soulful, and everything most of the rest of his catalog is not.
It was only when it was played for the one millionth time that it became more
annoying than affecting.

Anyway, this is not really a bad record. It breaks down between the classical
Clapton blues-rock (mostly covers) and the classical Clapton easy listening
rock. The standout is the muscular blues workout on Come Back Baby,
featuring piano, organ and guitar all meshing nicely. On the softer side
of the ledger, the title song is a nice acoustic instrumental. Elsewhere,
the songs underwhelm. Got You on My Mind and Broken Down are
garden-variety blues. The lighter material tends to the inoffensive, with tasteful, but uninspiring guitar
work. In fact, Clapton seems to be writing for the lounge music
crowd. Believe in Life is light, almost new age jazz rock, destined
to be played (badly) in hotel lounges worldwide. Find Myself is in
a similar vein, but with a more appealing shuffle feel and nice piano. His
version of James Taylor's Don't Let Me Be Lonely Tonight reworks that
slight pop tune into a slight blues tune.

Overall, I tired of the light, jazzy, breezy vibe, although this is precisely
the appeal of Clapton to many of his current fans. The longtime fans have
apparently become accustomed to Clapton's
thin, generally unexpressive vocals. Not me.

(The Japanese version of this CD includes a fine blues number, Losing Hand.
Now, you could get this by buying the Japanese CD for $25 extra
(!) at Amazon.com. Or, you could get just this one song - just this
one time - at one of those nasty file sharing places I've heard about on the
Net. Don't tell anyone I told you.)

FROM HERE TO ETERNITY LIVE (The
Clash); This is a 1999 release of live shows from one of the
best bands of all time. Most of the shows are from the early 80s. As
my friend Steve had previously pointed out, one of the most impressive things on
the record is the musicianship. This is especially so, considering the
Clash initially embraced the punk ethic that placed little value on knowing how
to play your instruments. And the songs continue to hold up well twenty
years later, both the early classics (from White Man in Hammersmith Palais
to London Calling), as well as the underrated later songs (Guns of
Brixton, Know Your Rights and Straight to Hell.) The
passion of the playing and, especially, of Joe Strummer's singing is still
something to hear after all these years. The legend grows stronger as the
individual members have generally failed to reach a comparable level of
inspiration (although see my favorable Joe Strummer review below.)

While the record succeeds as a documentary of live Clash
performances, it does not offer any significantly different versions of the
songs or any transcendent moments that mark the best live albums.

MY GRADE >> B (Love the band, the songs sound great , but
I'd rather listen to the studio versions.)

HONKY TONK UNION (Roger
Clyne & the Peacemakers); The best summary for the sound of
this record is stated on the back jacket of the CD - "this record ain't
country, like Lyle Lovett and Steve Earle ain't country" While this
record does not rise to those levels, it is a very enjoyable and pleasantly
varied offering.

Roger Clyne was the former leader of the Refreshments, a fine band from
Arizona, with a sound by way of Texas. They were perhaps best known for
performing the title instrumental for the "King of the Hill" animated
Fox sitcom. The best features of the Refreshments were Clyne's versatile
vocals, amiably witty lyrics and an easy swinging groove, which distinguished
them from some of the garden-variety alt country acts.

These strengths carry over to Clyne's new band, as demonstrated in the title
song, Beautiful Disaster and Never Thought. The best song
here is Green and Dumb, with Clyne's most winsome vocals painting a vivid
picture of a shy suitor, and the music fitting perfectly. The most
distinctive song is My Heart is a UFO, with a chorus that brings a smile
to your heart. It first makes you look twice at the title to make sure you know
what the hell he is singing, and then you can't get it out of your head.

The only real weakness here is a general sameness to the material, with too
many indifferent songs. Clyne needs to focus on stretching out a bit the
way he is able to on My Heart is a UFO, or honing the material to the
near-perfection of Green and Dumb. On Never Thought,
Clyne sings that "I was looking for ways/around the cliches." He
needs to keep looking.

BREAKFAST IN NEW ORLEANS, DINNER IN
TIMBUKTU (Bruce Cockburn); This is
a 1999 release brought to my attention by Hans, my former Houston colleague.
Bruce Cockburn is familiar to me mainly through WXRT's shameless overplaying of
his 1984 song, If I Had A Rocket Launcher. Based on Hans
recommendation, I gave this record a shot, and I'm glad I did.

Here is what Hans had to say about the
record:

"...

quite
possibly one of the greatest CD's I have ever purchased. It is worth a listen.
Some very interesting collaborations on this album with Margo Timmons of Cowboy
Junkies. A very interesting cover of Fats Domino's Blueberry Hill with
Margo is hauntingly beautiful. Also singing backup vocals on the album is
Lucinda Williams on several cuts. This is the type of music you put on a Sunday
morning, drink your coffee, and read the paper -- really excellent for that
relaxing mood."

While I would not rave quite as enthusiastically, I
enjoyed this record. When You Give It Away is a great opener,
rocking a bit harder than most of the rest of the disc. Down in the
Delta is a pleasant instrumental featuring fine acoustic guitar work.
The cover of Blueberry Hill is spectacular, retaining the basic melody
and tempo, but sounding completely fresh. While I have been no fan of
Margo Timmons or Cowboy Junkies, her vocals on this song are perfect.
Other highlights include Mango, Let the Bad Air Out, and Last
Night of the World.

The only drawbacks I saw here were some overly pretentious
moments, such as the spoken words at the beginning of Use Me While You Can,
and a general sameness of tone throughout the record. Some records trip
over the fine line of consistency into the muck of boring monotony.
Fortunately, this record never quite succumbs to that sad fate.

MY GRADE >> B (A good record that rewards additional
listens) -jb-

THE
HOUSTON KID (Rodney Crowell);
This series of vivid narratives is set in Houston, one of my favorite
cities. This is not, however, about the Houston of the Galleria or
River Oaks. It is about a "one eyed sailor in an ice house
bar...barbecue and beer on ice, just a little taste of paradise."
Brings back memories of Blanco's, my favorite bar in the whole
world.

Crowell offers up an excellent batch of songs, firmly rooted in the
Springsteen tradition of loosely basing the songs on his life. Hope,
disillusion, pain and redemption move from the Jersey shore to the Houston
streets. If Springsteen favored the operatic approach on his early
albums, Crowell favors the understated vibe of Tunnel of Love.
What results is a deeply affecting blend of wonderful lyrics, sympathetic
playing and fine production.

It begins with the rollicking optimism of Telephone Road, a nice
complement to the fantastic Steve Earle song of the same name. Here,
Crowell sets the scene of where he grew up - a poor, "white trash" area,
but with simple pleasures for a young boy. Unfortunately, for kids like Crowell,
things get tougher as life goes on. The Rock of My Soul is about how
he turns into "another Houston kid, on a downhill skid/like father,
like son." Topsy Turvy continues the recollection of a hard
childhood, combining harsh rock guitar with bitter raw lyrics.
"Daddy
thinks that whiskey makes him big and smart, Mommy thinks that Daddy's got a
concrete heart...I wish I had a brother or a sister to whom I
could turn...Momma's on the pavement with a broken arm/ tellin'
everybody Daddy meant no harm/Talk about denial with a great big
"D"/you can try to fool the neighbors, but you can't fool
me." He concludes, understandably, with "I don't like a thing about
the way we live"

A superb updated duet with the Man in Black himself finds Crowell
recalling the first time he "heard Johnny Cash sing I Walk the Line."
He captures the feeling he gets to this day - "I've seen the Mona Lisa,
I've heard Shakespeare read real fine/just like hearin' Johnny Cash sing I
Walk the Line" This is followed by Crowell treading the same thin
line (but falling over) on
Highway 17. "I put away 15 grand doin' one-night stands/mostly
liquor stores and filling stations." But that money is lost while he
is in prison - the spot where he buried it has been paved over by a six-lane
highway. He's also lost his family, who know he is "the perfect sample of
a bad example."

Every other song here offers its own pleasures, moving Crowell to a new
level as a singer, songwriter and performer. I Know Love Is All I Need is an unexpected closing song that indicates
that Crowell has come a long way from his past, and offers hope that others
can, as well. He has come to terms with his late parents, coming to
see their pain, as well as his own. He is a better man, and he "can see it in my children, I can feel it with my
wife/
and I know it with these friends I have, so important to my life."

It is hard to conceive a better guide to a happy life.

MY GRADE >> A (Transcending his country lineage without
giving up a bit of his heritage, Crowell's lyrics make this a real treasure.)

HALF MAD MOON (The Damnations TX);
A pretty good first record. "Countryish" rock from this band starts with a flat-out great rocker, Unholy
Train, and then some fine midtempo harmonies on No Sign of Water.
Soon after, they go full tilt "alt-country", a la Freakwater, on Spit and
Tears and Kansas. The record peters out somewhat in the second
half, with the exception of Finger the Pie, which does a nice job of
stirring things up, even adding a little well-placed trumpet (!), and the
closing song, Catch You Alive, which highlights their vocal
prowess The vocals, mainly from Deborah Kelly and Amy Boone (put
them together and you get Debbie Boone, an altogether scary thought), are very
distinctive. Overall, a few very fine songs, with just a bit too much
filler to warrant a hearty recommendation. However, I did like this record
and this band could have some real potential for the future.

MY GRADE >> B (Not a "half-bad moon" overall; a few standout songs
indicate this band has some real potential)

EVERYDAY (Dave Matthews Band);
This may not surprise any of you, but I have never figured the appeal of Dave
Matthews, either as a band or recording artist. To his credit, the new
album features Matthews trying to write actual songs. He is not successful, but at least
he tries. Dave seems to have discovered the
electric guitar, as opposed to his usual meaningless acoustic jamming.
What is amazing is that even his 4 - 5
minute songs on this record still feel like they are meandering without any urgency or
destination. It is produced by noted hack Glen Ballard (famous as the reason
that Alanis Morrissette had her 15 minutes of fame), but there is no noticeable
difference from previous DMB stuff I've heard.

I Did It - the first
single - is dreadful, and sums up the worst of Dave Matthews - indifferent playing, mumbled
vocals. I Did It does provide me one satisfying experience - it
is the rare song that unites me with my 12-year old daughter, who dislikes it
almost as much as I do. No arguments about what to do next when this song
comes on the radio! I am hard-pressed to identify any other bright spots
on Everyday. Space Between and Fool to Think are not
overly annoying. But then, you run into these stupefying lyrics on Sleep to Dream Her
- "I know I'll miss her later, wish
I could bend my love to hate her/wish I could be her creator, to be the
light in her eyes." While I believe that lyrics are not always
necessary for a good song, even great musicians (notably absent here) could not
save such laughable songwriting.

What depresses me about this music is not that it is worse than Britney
Spears or NSync - it isn't. However, this music is popular with adults who
should know better. Even worse, many think that because they like Dave
Matthews, they are still hip. Sad.

MY GRADE >> D (Too annoying to be elevator music)

CARPE P.M. - HONOR COMES ONLY AFTER HUMILITY (Deja
Voo Doo); I got this free from my brother Marty, who works with
someone from this band. When he gave me the CD, I thought he said the
music was influenced by Zeppelin and the Beatles. After listening to it, I
was totally confused. Then, Marty reminded me that he had said Zappa
and the Beatles. Now it all made sense; well, as much as anything
influenced by Zappa will make sense. While the list of people who
played on this album is lengthy, it appears to be primarily the work of Scott
Fischer, who wrote, produced and sung. I should clarify up front that I am
not a fan of Frank Zappa. I know that he was a good composer, because he
did classical music or opera, or something GOOD like that. As a non-Zappa
fan, most
of this CD (with notable exceptions) left me cold. Fischer tries too hard
to put too much into the record - concepts, horns, narration; you name it, it's
here. From time to time, it comes together, such as on Yesteryear
and Andy. The story and narration did not work for me, other than a
really funny offhand comment about Stephen Tyler and Aerosmith.

BUT WAIT; just when I was ready to write this off, the last song on
the album comes out of nowhere to be one of the best songs I've heard this
year. Purple Ladybug is a personal account of a hard time in
Fischer's life that he overcame with the help of family and friends. It is
a little too long, but the most straightforward song on the album is easily the
best. Most often, the best songwriting comes, not out of lofty concepts
and ambitions, but from simple personal statements. Purple Ladybug is
that type of personal statement, showing me more than the rest of the record.

MY GRADE >> B- (Nothing special, except for one outstanding
song, or if you miss Zappa)

GLOBAL
UNDERGROUND 019: LOS
ANGELES (John Digweed);
Well, I've never been to a rave, never taken Ecstacy, and am no longer in
the age demographic for this kind of dance music. The few times I have
been in a club that plays anything like this type of "deep house"
music, it drives me crazy after about an hour. But I've gotta tell
you, I really like this double CD - about 2 and 1/2 hours of thumping bass,
electronic effects and a few heavily treated vocals. Digweed is
apparently a superstar for fans of this music, and you can hear why.
He pays attention to the sequencing of tracks in a way that lets this disc
hold up even away from the dance floor.

The record captures highlights of a 5 hour show in Los Angeles. With
most marathon "rock" shows (Dead,etc), the resulting album merely
reinforces that "you had to be there." But here, , Digweed
blends the 22 tracks by various artists into a seamless whole that actually
works better listened to straight through, rather than as individual
tracks. I know, it's hard to believe that dance music could actually bring
back the album length progressive rock of the 70s and make it work so
well. Yes never sounded like this!

Lyrics, of course, are unimportant here, as in most dance music. In
fact, individual songs are hard to pinpoint as Digweed weaves the strands into a
whole comforting blanket of sound. Suffice it to say that I was most
impressed by the beginning of disc One, and the end of disc Two.

MY GRADE >> B+ (I have been surprised at how often I
listen to this. You may be, too.) -jb-

GET SKINTIGHT (The Donnas);
There was a group in the late 70s called the Runaways, consisting of teenage
girls playing high-energy pop-punk music. My friends made fun of me for
listening to them (although they always liked to look at the girls' pictures on
the album cover), but that group produced Joan Jett, who has put together a
decent career, including a few excellent tunes.

I offer this little anecdote to give you an idea of the
Donnas' sound. This album strives for Ramones heights (they are all named
"Donna"), but ultimately settles for Joan Jett's competency. The
subject matter concerns girls, guys, partying and rock and roll. Of
course, this was always my favorite subject matter as well. A month ago, I
discussed the issue of artisitic ambition in rock music. Well, the Donnas
have no artistic ambition beyond three chords and loud amps. The Ramones
took this approach and produced classics that sound even better 20 years
later. On this record, Doin' Donuts and Party Action are the
most obvious and effective Ramones homages. You Don't Wanna Call, Get
Outta My Room, Hyperactive, Hook It Up, and Didn't Like
You Anyway are more Joan Jett than the Ramones, but all sound
great blasting out of the car stereo.

THE
DONNAS TURN 21 (The Donnas);
Wow, I sort of remember when I was 21, but I didn't know any girls like the
Donnas. Too bad for me. Turning 21 has not softened their
hard-edged music a bit. The new record burns every bit as hot as their
last record, Get Skintight. Both records remind us that the
best rock music is often that which stays true to its garage roots.
There are other bands that are more adventurous and ambitious than the
Donnas, but few of them are as fun. By turns cute and tough,
their Ramones-like bark sometimes obscures their lyrical bite. This is
fun party music, but you don't want to get on their bad side.

Are You Gonna Move It For Me starts off the record with a
super-charged challenge to their boy fans/critics. "You want to meet
me, but you wrote about a few of our shows/If you don't like us, what are you
doing standing in the front row?/If you didn't come to party, why did you bother
coming at all?" Later, they lament "Stop drivin' through my
heart/You ditched me at the mini-mart" in Drivin' Thru My Heart.
My personal favorite is Police Blitz, when they turn the tables on the
policeman who pulls them over and convince him to party Donnas-style -
"Police
Blitz all night long, gonna party like Cheech and Chong/Let's go drink some
Schlitz, the Police Blitz!"

Other highlights include Midnight Snack, Nothing to Do, You've
Got a Crush on Me, Gimme a Ride, Little Boy, and Don't Get
Me Busted. They even pull off a relatively straight version of the
Judas Priest metal warhorse, Living After Midnight. It never
sounded so good.

MY GRADE >> B+ (You can have your Lilith Fair; I want the
Donnas!)

SING
LOUD, SING PROUD (Dropkick Murphys);
It's hard to imagine a more promising mix of influences than the Clash and
the Pogues, and the Dropkick Murphys are able to brew a fine blend on Sing
Loud, Sing Proud.

Originating as a harcore punk group in the mid-90s, the Murphy's have
continually incorporated their south Boston Irish heritage into their
music. This time, they also feature a cameo from
legendary Pogues wildman, Shane MacGowan. The album gets off to a
rousing start with the anthem, For Boston, followed by the Clash-like
sound of The Legend of Fin MacCumhail.

Which Side Are You On is a good, plain-speaking rabble-rousing Union-hall song!
"My Daddy was a miner, and I'm a miner's son/and I'll stick with the union
'til every battles won." Heroes of Our Past is a tribute to
the ancestors, once again conjuring the Clash (or should I say, Rancid; Lars Frederickson of that punk band
produced their first two records, and his influence is still felt here,
especially on The Gauntlet.)

However, the boys are no mere apologists for the old sod; The Torch bitterly
laments the cycle of violence (physical and emotional) in Ireland and Irish culture generally.
Raging with just acoustic guitars about a "bitter old man" who
has "grown cold to the touch of the ones that you love." Saddest
of all, "ignorance is something you can't overcome/but you pass it on down,
and that's something much worse/for a bitter young man has now taken the
torch." Politics becomes personal.

As for Shane, his contribution on Good
Rats is fine (the song is about Guinness and good rats, and, trust me,
that it is about all you want to know about the story.) MacGowan also
chips in on the group chanting on the awfully
cool cover of the the traditional Irish drinking song, The Wild Rover.

Other standouts include Forever, The Fortune of War, A Few Good
Men, and Ramble and Roll. The CD concludes on a high note, with
The Spicy McHaggis Jig, which unleashes a wobbly traditional jig, followed by
hilarious lyrics, hard to translate to print.

STALLED
PARADE (Eleventh Dream Day);
The first album in three years by this very solid
Chicago-based band is an exhilarating blend of new influences and
directions with a grounding in the basic soft/hard modern rock that this
band was perfecting at the same time as Nirvana (without the reward of
mainstream commercial success.)

The members of Eleventh Dream Day have day jobs and/or gigs in other
bands (my favorite being Janet Bean's traditional country group,
Freakwater). But, when they play together, there is an interplay
musically that handily overcomes the occasionally shaky songwriting and
vocals.

Stalled Parade, In the Style of... and Ice Song are classic Eleventh Dream Day
songs that feature hard, feedback-drenched electric guitar. Guitarist Rick Rizzo has an uncanny sense for using
his guitar solos to move the song through to a logical conclusion, rather than
the aimless wanderings of so many guitar aficionados. Interstate is
a more straightforward rocker. The lyrics on Way
Too Early on a Sunday Morning may be the band's finest, drawing up imagery
all too real for those of us who occasionally see dawn from the wrong end -
"By this time of the day, there's no going back/I could always collect
myself, but you'd be off the track...There is no revolution/there's only
revelation.../It's way too early on a Sunday morning/but it's not too late for a
Saturday night"

True.

MY GRADE >> B+ (Guitar rock that shows that the abduction
by the Q101 generation has still left a few hardy survivors.)

A
MAN UNDER THE INFLUENCE (Alejandro Escovedo);
Alejandro Escovedo’s family has a rich history in
music.His father, Pedro, was
in a Mexican mariachi band. Alejandro
is one of eight children, including a brother, Pete, who was a
percussionist for Santana.His
niece is Sheila E. from Prince fame.Escovedo
was born is San Antonio and raised on the surf near Los Angeles.He was a member of various punk bands including the Nuns, which
opened on tour for the Sex Pistols.He
was an original member of the cowpunk band Rank and File and also formed
Buick MacKane, which went on tour with Los Lobos.

Escovedo has recorded in relative obscurity for about 25
years now and has settled down, the father of six children of his own, in
Austin, Texas.His 1996 song With
These Hands, about his father’s struggles in emigrating from Mexico to the
U.S., was the inspiration for the play he co-wrote called By The Hand Of The
Father.The play opened in L.A.
last year and continued on in various cities during the spring of 2001.

Two
songs from the play highlight and begin Escovedo’s newest release A
Man Under The Influence.Wave
is about leaving Mexico as people wave goodbye to go their separate way, while
looking for their individual destination in the new world.“The sun's not brighter here/It only shines on golden hair.”Rosalie is an elegant song of longing for a loved one separated by
different countries.Seven years of letters only make that longing stronger and
more painful.“…to build a
world that’s free/I want to dance with you Rosalie.”Rhapsody is another strong song rich in guitars, cellos, and
violins.Across The River
highlights the pleasant yet haunting vocals of Escovedo.Don’t Need You shows off his interesting songwriting indicating
the conflict of love and lost opportunities. “I don’t need you/like you
don’t need me.” Follow You Down is a beautiful song with string
orchestration describing the struggle to accept someone’s love.“I’ve been hanging with the ghost/the cause of all this trouble.”Wedding Day is nicely melodic with cello, acoustic and steel
guitars, and also mandolin providing the orchestration.Velvet Guitar along with an earlier song on the CD, Castanets,
are two fine rockers that help break the more mellow pace of A
Man Under The Influence.Ultimately,
however, they are probably the two least remarkable songs on the album.As I Fall, with the solid drumming of Hector Munoz, is one of the
best songs on the CD.“And as I
lean into this fall/I’ll always surround you.”About This Love has Escovedo singing about a former love and that
chance to get back with her.“There’s
a story in your eyes/that needs a witness.”

For Escovedo, this is a more melodic and less downbeat
album from his previous efforts.It
is a beautiful recording particularly with the cellos of Brian Standefer.It may seem an odd mixture as you hear the cello intertwine with the
guitar feedback at the end of Velvet Guitar, but it is most effective.Also prominent on the album is the pedal steel guitar work of Eric
Heywood.

Cellos, violins, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, pedal
and slide guitars; this is the result of Escovedo’s varied influences and
incarnations as a rock and roller.It
all makes A Man Under The Influence a
solid album from beginning to end.

MY GRADE >> B+ (Like a work of art, the poignancy in
the lyrics may lead each listener to interpret the songs in somewhat different
ways.The songs will touch you
none-the-less.)

SONGS FROM AN AMERICAN MOVIE, VOL. ONE: LEARNING HOW TO SMILE (Everclear); Now
here is a straightforward rock record from a straightforward rock band.
Leader Art Alexakis was unfairly castigated by his early 90s alt-rock peers for
the perceived fatal flaw of being frankly ambitious. At the time, the
alt-rock crowd valued their persona as slackers, unconcerned about any such
trifles as commercial success. Everclear admitted that they wanted to be
successful, in the sense that they wanted many people to like and listen to
their music. The irony is that Everclear continues to build a musical
catalog to be envied, while bands from Nirvana to Soundgarden to Metallica have
been ruined in various ways by their commercial success.

On Vol. One, Everclear offers more hooks than
you'd find at an overcrowded fishing hole. The music is uniformly sunny,
while Alexakis' lyrics continue to work to find the hope and beauty in otherwise
painful or mundane lives. This is perfectly captured in Wonderful, a
child's lament about his parents' breakup. The lyrics ring completely true
- "I don't want to hear you say that/I will understand someday/I don't want
to hear you say/You both have grown in different ways." We know
exactly what he is feeling when he sings "Promises mean everything/When
you're little/and the world is so big" In Otis Redding,
Alexakis offers that "I wish I could be like all my heroes/I wish I could
be like yours too/I wish I could sing like Otis Redding/I wish I could play this
guitar in tune." The giddy, should-be-a-hit AM Radio
absolutely nails what Top 40 AM radio used to mean to us 40-somethings, down to
the perfect finishing chant of "we like pop, we like soul/we like rock, but
we never liked disco." There is also a top-notch cover of Brown
Eyed Girl, the fine title songs, and the fun Unemployed Boyfriend,
with Alexakis attempting to pitch some woo at the unemployment office.

There are certainly a few misses here, including the
closing Annabella's Song, which tries too hard with its over-the-top
string arrangement. But, considering that this band had one of the perfect
songs of the 90s (Santa Monica), they continue to move forward -
unafraid to try something new, despite the risk of failure, but also unashamed
to make fun music.

MY GRADE >> B+ (A fine offering, with great lyrics from
Alexakis - a definite contender as the best rock lyricist working today )

SONGS
FROM AN AMERICAN MOVIE, VOL. TWO: GOOD TIME FOR A BAD ATTITUDE
(Everclear);
Well, this is what I get for being one of the few critics to defend
Everclear and its leader, Art Alexakis. Volume One was the
"pop" record and it confirmed for me that Everclear was receiving
a bad rap from the rock press for his unapologetic desire to be
successful. Volume Two is the "hard" record, and it
is everything that Everclear's critics accuse them of: cynical, formulaic
and calculated. I found this record depressing, because I believe that
Alexakis has shown that he is capable of better. Am I depressed when
listening to other records that are as bad as this one? No, because most of those bands have no chance of writing
songs as nearly perfect as Santa Monica and Wonderful. There
is nothing remotely in that league on this record. The leadoff song, When
It All Goes Wrong Again, is as good as it gets. Aside from some clever
lyrics from Alexakis on Rock Star and Short Blonde Hair, there is
nothing here worth noting.

MY GRADE >> C- (A sad confirmation of some of the worst
criticism of Everclear)

HALFWAY BETWEEN THE GUTTER AND THE STARS (Fatboy
Slim); The followup to the breakthrough You've Come a
Long Way, Baby, the new Fatboy record should be another dance floor hit.
While there are not monster crossover hits like Rockafeller Skank or Praise You,
it is a solid display of electronica, with good songwriting - usually the
missing ingredient in the dance-floor genre. If this record will not
further the infiltration of dance music into American indie rock, it should keep
the faithful dancing the morning hours away. Star
69 has a great pounding electro beat, combined with gratuitously profane
lyrics - perfect for the disaffected beautiful people sulking through the discos of the new
millenium. Love Life with vocals from Macy Gray is a fine example of the
way that Fatboy Slim is able to combine disparate genres in a creative way, not
losing sight of bringing enjoyment to the masses. Weapon of Choice
is an enjoyable rocker, with an interesting rhythm. Talking Bout My
Baby brings a live, piano club vibe; this could be, like Praise You,
an unlikely hit after the inevitable remixing. Then, there is
Bird of Prey, which repeats a Jim Morrison sampled vocal to a fair degree of annoyance,
before taking an ambient turn. Drop the Hat is weird
and interesting for the first couple of listens, then it is just
weird.

MY GRADE >> B (While not up to the Chemical Brothers
brilliance, Fatboy Slim does a creditable job of merging the electronic dance
movement and traditional rock approaches.)

THE SOFT BULLETIN (The Flaming
Lips); Speaking of ambition, this one reaches up to the sky,
with smoothness and grace like Michael Jordan. While it doesn't close the
deal quite as well as Michael did, this is a very successful outing by a band
that refuses to stand still. I know I am going to have a hard time
explaining exactly why this is such a great record. The lyrics make no
real sense, at least in any linear way, but they never have with the Lips.
The music is not even rock in any recognizable sense, other than a few touches
here and there - a heavy bass and drum moment in the middle of A Spoonful
Weighs a Ton, the end of The Spark That Bled, most of Buggin'
(also on the Austin Powers Two soundtrack).

The CD sleeve art is presented as if the record were a
film, and that is as good an analogy as any. The songs here give the
listener the sense of watching one of those experimental movies we saw in film
class, with colors and shapes filling the screen. OK, fine Jim, but what
does the music sound like? Well, that's the point. This sounds
different from anything I can remember hearing, unlike even previous records
I've heard (and enjoyed) from the Flaming Lips. Some people will say the
Beach Boys or Beatles, but I only picked that up in a couple of places (e.g., The
Gash is quite Beatle-like). I believe a better comparison that comes
to mind is last year's good (but overpraised) OK Computer by Radiohead.
The vocals are similarly high-pitched and plaintive, the lyrics similarly
oblique, and the music similarly ambitious, incorporating numerous non-rock
elements. The major difference is tone - The Soft Bulletin feels
expansive, sunny and optimistic, while OK Computer was claustrophobic,
dark and a downer. Simply put, listening to The Soft Bulletin makes
me smile; I enjoyed this record right from the start. The only songs that
are close to a miss are Suddenly Everything Has Changed and Feeling
Yourself Disintegrate. All the rest are uniformly wonderful
songs.

MY GRADE >> A (Highly recommended; one of the year's best)

UTOPIA PARKWAY (Fountains of
Wayne); Apparently, a certain brand of catchy pop (complete with
Beach Boys/Beatles-like vocal harmonizing) is quite the rage in independent
music circles these days. Fountains of Wayne and Apples in Stereo are examples of this movement. Utopia Parkway starts
off with the title song, and this promising lyrical intro - "Well I've been
saving for a custom van/And I've been playing in a cover band." Now,
if that doesn't capture the early 70s, I must be Dazed and Confused.

It is hard to dislike this music, because it is relentlessly cheerful in
style, if not always in lyrical content. Denise is a sunny
"sha-la-la" type song (complete with "shoobe-do-ah"s!), even
while name checking a Lexus and Puff Daddy. The Valley of Malls,
Amity Gardens and Troubled Times are pretty good ear candy.

This band sounds similar to Teenage Fanclub and (maybe) Matthew Sweet; this
record is a little more consistent than Teenage Fanclub, but without the real
standouts featured by that band or the bite that Sweet often brings.
Overall, while this is a well-crafted effort, it lacks any real excitement or
risk-taking. I read that Fountains of Wayne is one of Elton John's
favorite new bands. Needless to say, I do not consider that a positive
endorsement.

MY GRADE >> B- (Not unpleasant)

END TIME (Freakwater); This
band has put out one of the best records from the 1990s, Feels Like The Third
Time. Their sound has been primarily acoustic country, featuring
harmony vocals from Janet Bean and Catherine Irwin. They probably fall
into the genre of "alt-country" because they don't get played on
country radio stations, but their sound and sensibility are pure country.
Other than Feels Like the Third Time, their other records have been
inconsistent, although each has some good-to-great songs.

This record is a mixed bag. It features more instrumentation and the
arrangements are not quite as spare as on earlier efforts. The best song
is the first, Good For Nothing, with its great chorus of "I've
been good/and I've been good for nothing." Cheap Watch
features some nice fiddle work from Joel Batty. When the Leaves Begin
to Fall is an excellent example of the best of the old Freakwater
(breathtaking harmony vocals) with the newer, full-band version. I also
enjoyed Cloak of Frogs and Sick, Sick, Sick.

The rest of the record did little for me. The band seems eager to have
the music evolve to the next stage, and I agree with that philosophy.
Freakwater had been running out of ways to make the acoustic country
consistently interesting and inventive. This record is a step in a new
direction, but they still have a ways to go.

MY GRADE >> B (An okay record, but if you have to have one
Freakwater record - and you do - buy Feels Like the Third Time.)

VERSION 2.0 (Garbage); Released
last year, and touted as one of the year's best, I just got around to buying
this. This is my kind of pop music; more of an edge than Fountains of
Wayne or Apples in Stereo, this takes the catchy melodies and superb vocals and
rocks out. The radio hit, I Think I'm Paranoid, is a fine update of
the slow/fast Nirvana dynamics. When I Grow Up, Hammering in My
Head, Push It, You Look So Fine and Sleep Together are
a similar blend of accessibility and risk-taking. The production shines,
as could be expected from a band led by Butch Vig. This group does a fine
job of integrating techno and industrial touches in a very subtle fashion.
Not as brilliant as the best in any one genre, this is still a good record.

2000
YEARS OF HUMAN ERROR (Godhead);
Remember when the second tier industrial rock bands were as good
as Nitzer Ebb, My Life With the Thrill Kill Kult, KMFDM, Revolting Cocks, Skinny
Puppy and Skrew? OK, well, I do, and at the risk of sounding like the
cranky old man I am, I have to say that those were the good old days.
Today, we have Nine Inch Nails at the top of the heap, with Ministry as
royalty emeritus (since their last couple of releases are not up to the
astounding standards set a decade ago.) Then you've got Marilyn Manson one
level down. After that we go all the way down to Godhead. These guys
may have the slight credibility that comes with being on Manson's
boutique record label, but they are still just another industrial rock
ripoff.

What is good on this record? Very little. Tired Old Man, Break
You Down and Backstander are all tolerable. A
cover of Eleanor Rigby is the novelty tune (which is all it was for the
Beatles as far as I am concerned.) Industrial covers of old songs are not
new, but this does not reach the heights of Ministry's reworking of Dylan's Lay
Lady Lay or Skrew's finest hour, the Stones' Sympathy for the Devil.

With all of the lame efforts in the industrial rock genre recently, I would
be tempted to say that there is nowhere left to go. However, Nine Inch
Nails released The Fragile just over a year ago, and that proved that
there is still some life left.

But none of that life is present in Godhead.

MY GRADE >> C- (More proof that loud guitars and
distorted vocals can still be boring.)

LIQUID SKIN (Gomez);
Recommended by my Denver brother-in-law, Pete. I don't know anything about the band, although one guy is
named Ian, so I assume they're British. Hangover and Revolutionary
Kind are a nice start to the record. Fill My Cup has a nice
hard guitar part near the end. Otherwise, I found this unremarkable.
It seems too self-consciously arty, and the vocalist seems unsure whether he
wants to be Eddie Vedder or Thom Yorke. Musicianship is fine, but the
performance and songs are uninspired.

MY GRADE >> C (ho-hum; sorry, Pete!)

WARNING: (Green Day);
Green Day originally started out posturing as a punk rock
band. Now, on their sixth album Warning they are a power-pop trio
and just as unconvincing. The album starts off with one of its better
songs, the title track. "Is it the cop or am I the one that's really
dangerous?" Let's just say, there is nothing dangerous about
Green Day. There is some angst, along with some hope, in their words, but
the lyrics really never click. The music is mostly catchy tunes and mostly
pointless.

Church on Sunday is all right, but makes you wish you were listening
instead to an old Romantics album.

Castaway has a nice sing-a-long quality. "Castaway/now I'm on
my own." Everybody join in. There is a lot of toe tapping, but
nothing special going on here. Wait a minute, on Waiting, is that '60s British
pop star Petula Clark I hear? With Minority, they at least attempt to
write something interesting, "Down with the moral majority 'cause I want to
be the minority."

Warning is straightforward rock and roll. But, their lyrics need work and the
musicianship is limiting.

MY GRADE >> C- (The old punkers' strongest efforts on this
album are the more acoustic songs: Warning, Misery, and ending with
Macy's Day Parade. Maybe their next incarnation will be as a folk band. How sad would that
be considering they have nothing to say.) -sh-

ISOLATION
DRILLS (Guided by Voices);
Guided By Voices is the vehicle for the occasionally fine, more often
frustrating songs of Robert Pollard. A critical favorite, GBV has
always been too off-hand for my taste. Their songs generally take a
single melody, throw in some nonsensical lyrics (sung in Pollard's cheesy fake British
accent), play it quick and move on to the next one. OK, so maybe that
is what the Ramones did, minus the fake British accent, but the difference
is in the execution of that concept. The Ramones committed themselves
to the purity of their sound, and boiled songs down to their essence in 2
minutes. GBV has always had good ideas, with no commitment to bringing
those ideas to full realization. They just quit after 2 minutes, and
think that makes them "punk." But Pollard's songs demand
more than the tossed-off treatment he too often gives them.

Isolation Drills is an advance for Guided By Voices, with more
"complete" songs than
on any of their previous records. In general, the effort put in on this
record pays off. Fair Touching and the driving Skills Like This
are fine lead-off tunes. Chasing Heather Crazy and Glad Girls
show that Pollard can make power-pop at the high level of a Material Issue or
Off Broadway. Unspirited is a nice melodic song.

The record still has too many throw-away
tunes (Frostman, Sister I Need Wine), plus one song (the ambitious, mostly failed
Run Wild) that demonstrates the pitfalls of putting too much
effort into a song. Lyrically, especially for a former schoolteacher,
Pollard is a lightweight.

One thing that GBV have going for them is that they are making music that
is not dependent on current trends, and they have few
competitors left in the power-pop field. There may be some greatness still
lurking here.

IN THE AIR (Handsome Family); This
2000 release from the Chicago band is a tremendous improvement over their
previous record, Through the Trees. That 1998 release garnered much
praise, but struck me as somewhat mannered, with the band worried more about the
sound and mood than the songs.

On the new record, their songs catch up to their
ambitions. They nominally fall into the alt country ghetto, but they also
build on the country blues/gospel tradition. Their lyrics, written by
Rennie Sparks, the female
half of the married couple that is the Handsome Family, range from bleak to
homicidal. The music has a cinematic feel, like the soundtrack for a
spaghetti Western. The instrumentation is varied, refusing to be limited
to the traditional tools of the trade. The vocals, by Brett Sparks, the male half of the group, give meaning
and feeling to the lyrics, and complement the musical vision perfectly.

This blend of gently rolling music and often horrific
lyrics gives the music a power that belies the humble origins of the recording -
the Sparks living room. The best songs are beautifully rendered stories,
with characters we can vividly picture, even when, as in So Much Wine, it
is painful to do so. Brett Sparks sings achingly of a sad person,
lamenting an alcoholic partner, "there's only so much wine you can drink in
one life/and it will never be enough/ to save you from/ the bottom of your
glass" Other highlights here are Don't Be Scared, The
Sad Milkman, In the Air, Up Falling Rock Hill (more soft music
and harsh lyrics), When That Helicopter Comes (a lively dirge with
gleefully bizarre lyrics), Grandmother Waits for You (offering the
slightest bit of redemption for the motley cast of characters featured on this
record)

Virtually free of filler, the record succeeds
spectacularly overall in matching the artists' vision to excellent songs performed
well. Also, this is an Enhanced CD with a high quality music video of Amelia
Earhart, a fine song from an earlier CD.

MY GRADE >> A (Music that mines country and blues
traditions, and comes up with something wholly original in the process)
-jb-

STORIES FROM THE CITY, STORIES FROM THE SEA (PJ
Harvey); A wonderful all-out rock record from Ms. Harvey, this
is her best and most consistent album. While she has certainly hit these
heights occasionally on previous efforts - most notably on To Bring You My
Love and Dry - there is a relentless sense of purpose and
self-confidence here that has been missing before. Without losing any of
the old power in her vocals, this makes Stories a joy to listen to.

The best song is You Said Something (as close to the mainstream as
Harvey gets, and a song that cries out for radio airplay). However, listen
for the distinctive tunes that close the record. Horses in My Dreams and
We Float are ethereal, haunting and still exude a dangerous vibe. In We
Float,
Harvey sings that "we wanted to find love, we wanted success/until nothing
was enough, until my middle name was excess."

The record is heavy on the rockers that Harvey does as well as anyone - her
ferocious guitar playing is demonstrated on Good Fortune (almost a Patti
Smith tribute, but with a Courtney Love edge!), This is Love (maybe an answer to
her last record, Is This Desire), Kamikaze, The Whores Hustle and
the Hustlers Whore (featuring her driving guitar within an eerie context)
and Big Exit. Beautiful Feeling comes closest to the "classic"
PJ Harvey, raw solo electric and vocal. This Mess We're In is a duet with
Radiohead's Thom Yorke that grows with each listen (thankfully, Harvey, a prime
vocal stylist in her own right, leaves the high pitched yelps to Yorke.)

MY GRADE >> A- (PJ Harvey has come through with the best
record of a strong career.)

FIT TO BE TIED - GREAT HITS (Joan
Jett and the Blackhearts); This record is a few years old, but I
was prompted to buy it by my recent praise of the Donnas' record, as well as the
use of the song Bad Reputation in the outstanding, but now-canceled
TV show, Freaks
and Geeks.

Everyone made fun of me when I bought the Runaways album
back in college, and they were basically a manufactured girl group,
although a damn fine-looking one. Joan Jett came out of this experience to
make some classic rock songs, that have held up better as the years have
passed. The aforementioned Bad Reputation is probably my favorite,
but I Love Rock N Roll is the quintessential Joan Jett song. With a
big sound, passionate vocals, and one chord short of a Ramones song, this is so
good cranked up with car windows rolled down. The cover of Sly Stone's Everyday
People is so-so, but she scores with her cover of Tommy James' Crimson
and Clover. You've got to hear her tremendous one-minute version of Love
is All Around, the theme from the Mary Tyler Moore show. It is the
punk rock version; I heard that the Replacements also did a version of this
song, but I never heard it. Other winners are I Hate Myself for Loving
You, Roadrunner (the punk rock classic from Jonathon Richman) and Light
of Day (written by Springsteen)

MY GRADE >> A- (Great songs to sing along to; some filler but
the classics are worth it.)

SAILING
TO PHILADELPHIA (Mark Knopfler); Mark Knopfler first made an impact in 1978 fronting Dire Straits.He played the most sensitive yet electrifying guitar; making him one
of the greatest guitar players in Rock and Roll.With each new album, Knopfler would improve upon his songwriting
accompanied with more atmospheric music.His guitar work, however, became less prominent.

After Dire Straits, he moved on to movie scores and various
collaborations.Now, after one
unnoticed solo album, comes his second project, Sailing To Philadelphia. Knopfler’s easy, fluid guitar playing, the signature sound of Dire Straits, is
evident right from the start on What It Is.It is only a tease.The
title track, Sailing To Philadelphia, is a catchy, mellow tune aided by
the mellow croon of James Taylor.It
is a song about the two British astronomers who created the Mason-Dixon Line.Knopfler, with this album, gives us sort of a reporter’s eye-view of
America from an historical and sociological perspective.But the lyrics are hit and miss.On
Who’s Your Baby Now, they miss.It
has a pleasing acoustic sound, but asking a prostitute, “Who’s your baby
now?” in a deadpan vocal delivery is ineffective.Baloney Again hits and is the best song on the album.Jim Hoke’s harmonica helps tell the tale of a traveling gospel group
singing about Jesus in the face of racial prejudice.“We don’t eat in no white restaurant, we’re eatin’ in the car.Baloney again…” Unfortunately, Van Morrison cannot help save The
Last Laugh.And El Macho
is a big miss.Who knows what he is
singing about here.Who cares.Do
America brings you a British rock star coming to conquer America.It is the song the radio stations will most likely play because, on this
album, it sounds the most like an old Dire Straits’ song.Prairie Wedding and Wanderlust work together.Prairie Wedding has a farmer first meeting his mail order bride.“Do you think that you could love me Mary?You think we got a chance of a life?”It is followed nicely by Wanderlust.With a Native American sound, it is about someone unable to settle down.“I was down the road in a cloud of dust.Me and the wanderlust.”Speedway
At Nazareth has a Nashville-NASCAR feel and then Knopfler puts the pedal to
the metal and plays his guitar once again.But like on most of this album, the guitar work is ultimately
disappointing.Let’s face it,
Knopfler has set an awfully high standard to reach.

Listening to Sailing
To Philadelphia from beginning to end will thoroughly mellow you out.There are minor peaks and valleys that by the end go flatline with Sands
Of Nevada.Will Knopfler ever resuscitate his guitar?I am beginning to think, no.And
I am not sure I like it.

MY GRADE>>C (His songwriting is not up
to par with his previous work and he refuses to cut loose on his guitar.)
-sh-

FEMINIST
SWEEPSTAKES
(Le Tigre);
Le Tigre made a fantastic debut record a couple of years ago that defied
categorization. Punk? Yes, in that it was more focused on the
urgency of the playing, rather than the proficiency, but it sounded nothing like any other
punk I've heard. Riot Grrrls? Absolutely, but the lyrics brimmed
with wit and vigor, not nearly as strident as some of the other grrrls.
Grunge? Certainly not, but the lyrics evoked the best of Kurt
Cobain. It was a spectacular debut by a band fronted by Kathleen Hanna,
formerly the leader of
the legendary Bikini Kill.

Feminist Sweepstakes is nearly as good,
working in some of the current electronic dance trends, and more overtly
(radical and profane) political lyrics. While losing some of the
variety that made Le Tigre an A+ effort, the new music continues
to be innovative, vital and damn catchy.

Opener LT Tour Theme provides the perfect description of
Le Tigre music, that eluded me initially - " we're the band with the
roller skate jams." Driven by the cheap drum machine, cheesy synth
and fuzzed-out guitar sound that dominate the disc, Shred A laments that "you're wasting
my time...it's all so precious/you just throw it away." Dyke March
2001 is about just what it says, and features a great, exhilarating leap
into the electronic music realm, matching Radiohead in seamlessly integrating
dance music into a rock context. FYR, standing for 50 years of
ridicule, has some of the harshest lyrics on the record, as Le Tigre's inner
radical feminist comes busting to the fore. "Ten short years of progressive
change, fifty years of calling us names/Can we trade Title IX for an end to hate
crime?" To summarize the Le Tigre philosophy, we've come "one
step forward, five steps back/We tell the truth, they turn up the laugh
track." TGIF is also a standout song, focused on a
friend getting fired by an idiot boss. On Guard directly takes on those
who judge people by their appearance, as polite a way as I can describe this
confrontational song. Well Well Well features yet another great,
insidiously catchy beat.

Feminist Sweepstakes
finishes with the unlikely, yet perfect combination of Cry For Everything Bad That's Ever
Happened - a simple, piano-driven instrumental that defines sad, but
hopeful, and the redemptive triumph of Keep On Livin'. In this
concluding song, Le Tigre check off the tough things that face young women (and
men, for that matter) as they go through life. Among them, "disproportionate
reactions just won't fade, every dude you see puts you in a rage/Or stupid shit
keeps making you cry; your friends are worried you won't tell them
why" But Le Tigre pushes us to "keep on livin'...so you can taste that
sweet sweet cake, and feel the warm water in a lake. What about that nice
cool breeze?" The only live drumming on the record emphasizes the
warmth and ultimate positivism of Le Tigre's music. "This is your
time, this is your life and ...keep on livin'"

Falling
just short of the caliber of their debut, Feminist Sweepstakes is still
one of the best records I heard in 2001.

MY GRADE >> A (Increasingly assertive lyrics coupled
with musical experimentation that clicks more often than not. This is a very
good record. )

HYBRID THEORY (Linkin Park); The latest "hot, new alternative rock" band,
Linkin Park represents an attempt to broaden the rap-rock formula. I don't
know how successful anyone could be at this; adding melody to this genre is a
tricky thing, and it does not really work here.

There are some decent songs, with the choruses especially
MTV-ready. Runaway and One Step Closer are the most successful distillations of the
formula, very effective at getting the heads'a'bangin'. Papercut
and In the End are OK.

The best description of what is happening on this record is that it owes much to Rage Against the
Machine and is not nearly as
awful as Limp Bizkit. I am torn, because one view
is that they are trying to take the best of Rage and bring it back from
the muck that Limp has dragged it into. Of course, the other view is
that they are trying to soften it (especially with harmony on the
choruses) to appeal to a wider audience. Ultimately, as the band
sings, "In the end, it doesn't even matter"

ROLL
ON (Living End);
The Living End is three school friends from Australia
who formed a band in 1994.Lead
singer Chris Cheney plays guitar, Scott Owen is on the upright bass, and
Travis Demsey strikes the drums.After
two EP’s and their self-titled debut album, comes their second full-length
CD, Roll On.

It is a blend of punk, heavy metal, pop, arena rock,
and a touch of reggae.The
various influences would normally lead to a hodge-podge of disaster.But The Living End, with their solid musicianship, make it
all work.The complex tempo
changes keep the album consistently interesting.The musical twists and turns, the infectious energy, blistering
guitar work of Cheney, along with the intelligent and intelligible lyrics keep Roll On sounding fresh and ready for repeated listening.

The title track kicks things off with the rolling thunder
of guitars and drums.Roll On
is about dockworker strife, “You’ll go back to work tomorrow or meet your
new replacement son.Roll On.”Another highlight is Riot On Broadway, where the Stray Cats meet
the Clash and AC/DC.Staring At
The Light visits the sound of Midnight Oil.It is an interesting song about people who end up facing the afterlife as
they strive to reach the shores of a better world.“Times up for a brighter light.The
foreign waters put the fire out.”Don’t
Shut The Gate is an excellent song.Opening
in a robotic-like state, “Isolate for protection…,” followed by the screaming chorus, “Don’t shut the gate.”Roll On is one solid song
followed by another including Revolution Regained and Silent Victory,
about the battle cry for a love that has already walked out the door.Astoria Paranoia is another excellent offering.“Is there something going on around me, is there something I should
know?”With the references to
fire and everything lost in the haze, could this be about the fire that
destroyed downtown Astoria, Oregon almost 80 years ago?That is a reference from way out there.No matter.The music
alternates from panic to an internal confusion, “Lost inside my mind,”
showing a band with artistic endeavors playing music that enhances the lyrics.Minor quibbles include the songs Carry Me Home,
starting off at a breakneck pace and Blood On Your Hands, beginning in a
reggae mode.They would have been
better served in a more straightforward musical style.While on tour to promote their second EP, The Living End
released a single, Prisoner Of Society.It became a major hit in Australia.They included the song on their first album and have added a live
version, sans audience, to the end of Roll On.Obviously proud of the song, they wish to share it again,
this time hoping America will hear what got it all rolling for the band.

Once you stop listening for who they sound like and start
listening for what they are, The Living End sound energetic, interesting, and
always fresh.

BUZZ ME IN (Jack
Logan); This is one confused guy, at least musically. His
story is great - pool cleaner by day, sensitive songwriter by night,
"discovered" and adopted by the indie, alternative cognoscenti, now
with a major label record. Good reviews in the media, by critics who, I am
convinced, like the idea of Jack Logan better than the actual music. Logan
attempts to dress up his basic country rock with an array of instrumentation to
no great effect. These songs are bad, and they are not improved by the
workmanlike playing, or the underdog story. Based on this record, I hope
he is a better pool cleaner than he is a songwriter.

MY GRADE >> C- (Pretty much a dog)

THINGS
WE LOST IN THE FIRE (Low);
Low has made a minor career out of playing what is ostensibly rock music as quietly
as possible. Now, as a fancy pants rock critic, I am impressed with
anybody who tries something different, and then tries to take it further
each time. But, there is one inescapable truth about rock music that
has not changed in 50 years - the louder, the better. Now that does
not mean that tremendous and influential works cannot come from the quieter
side. Yo La Tengo and some of Bruce Springsteen's work, to name just a
couple of examples.

But if an artist is to work that end of the scale, the margin for error is
vastly reduced. Case in point - Elvis Costello's first few albums were
brilliant adaptations of punk's louder/faster ethic to traditional pop
songwriting. His slower songs were few, but included the breathtaking Allison. When Costello decided to do all his records in that style, he
was revealed as a less than compelling songwriter and performer.
Ultimately, his body of work suffered from his decision to stay committed to
"non-rock."

If Elvis can't pull it off, Low has little chance. It shows
here. Now, when this band wakes up, they can be quite good. Sunflower
and Dinosaur Act and are lively songs, the latter effectively
contrasting their usual
quietude with a typical rock chorus. Laser Beam and Like a Forest
come closest to achieving the quiet beauty that
Low aspires to. Unfortunately, songs like Kind of Girl, Whitetail
and Medicine Magazine merely disappear into the air, like wisps of
smoke.

MY GRADE >> C (Low remain committed to their
shtick, but are effectively stuck in a rut.)

ELECTRIC HONEY (Luscious Jackson);
New release from these New York purveyors of the slow, easy groove.
Luscious Jackson has always been vulnerable to an unfortunate sameness to much
of their music, and this disc is their worst offender. It does not have
any song that stands out from the crowd, as Naked Eye did on their last record, nor
does it achieve the level of consistency present on the earlier Natural
Ingredients. The nature of their music does not lend itself to
standouts; the best tracks here are Alien Lover, Sexy Hypnotist, Country's A
Callin' and Fly. Luscious Jackson has always trafficked in
slowed-down hip-hop tunes, which de-emphasize the bass dominance in most rap,
while increasing the guitar/keyboard sound. Their vocals are half-spoken
(whispered, really) in hip-hop style. While this all held together well on
Natural Ingredients, and when Steve and I saw them at (the first?) Lollapalooza, it is just
a little boring now.

MY GRADE >> C (Nothing special)

STEPHEN
MALKMUS (Stephen Malkmus);
Here we have the long-awaited (by some) debut solo offering from the former frontman
for Pavement, yet another acclaimed indie band whose merits escaped me.
Pavement exhibited at least one
key similarity with Guided By Voices - too many song ideas, with too little
commitment to execution. No need to try very hard, when you have an
adoring (if small) fan base, and enough money to live out your modest
slacker fantasies. For every good Pavement song, there were 5
that were too precious for their own good.

The ratio holds here. Church on White is very well-crafted, with some
of Malkmus' most straightforward vocals. The Hook has a nice
one (hook, that is) and Trojan Curfew has some fine guitar work, but
neither song really goes anywhere. Out of nowhere, Malkmus gives us some
wonderful lyrics on Jennifer and the Ess-Dog, a story of Jennifer, an 18
year old dating "a man in a 60s cover band," the 31 year old Sean
("Ess-Dog.") There are certainly differences - "see those
rings on her toes/ Check that frisbee in his Volvo," - but things go well
early on, as they "kiss when they listen to 'Brothers In Arms'" and
get a "dog she named Trey." Then, inevitably, things get tough when
she goes off to college, and now, "neither one listens to 'Brothers In
Arms'/The Ess-dog waits tables and he sold his guitar/Jenny pledged Kappa and
she started pre-law/And off came those awful toe rings." Finely
observed cultural commentary, along with an affecting personal story.

These brief shining moments are outweighed by the (not-at-all-charming)
goofiness of Phantasies and Jo Jo's Jacket. Inconsequential
songs, such as Pink India and Troubbble (sic), pour out one after
another, as if Malkmus realized that even his most dedicated fans require a
dozen songs.

If Malkmus has a great album in him, he's going to have to work a lot harder
than this.

HOLY
WOOD (Marilyn Manson);
There are many who decry the decline of the American culture. Never
mind that most of these people consider only the most middle-of-the-road and
bland songs, movies, plays, etc. to be worthy. Marilyn Manson has
served his time as the whipping boy (or whipping whatever) for these groups.
However, with the rise of Limp Bizkit and Eminem, Manson's 15 minutes to
outrage American parents appears to have passed. The only thing left
is the music, and, although wholly derivative of other, better acts, it is
not bad.

Manson was a protégé of Nine Inch Nails' guru Trent Reznor, before some
type of rock star falling out. To say that the influence of Reznor permeates Manson's music is as much of an
understatement as to say that the recent presidential election was close.
On Manson's best songs, the music and vocals would fit right in with NIN's
harder material. Fortunately, there are numerous such songs on this album,
including Disposable Teens, Burning Flag and the holy trinity of The
Fight Song, The Death Song and The Love Song.

Speaking of holy, this record includes the usual fascination with blasphemy,
which is Manson's creative dead-end. He really wants to be outrageous and
get the fundamentalists riled up, but songs such as God Eat God and Lamb
of God are simply dreadful. Combining ridiculously self-important
lyrics with dreary, sludgy music, this could only connect with teens who like
to think of themselves and their problems as the center of the universe.

Actually, that explains a lot.

MY GRADE >> B- (They would be an excellent Nine Inch
Nails cover band, with even a few of their own tunes mixed in.)

CUTTIN' HEADS
(John Mellencamp);
John Mellencamp has too much money for his own good. If someone less
successful made music as consistent as he does, that artist would receive
much more critical respect. Not to say that he has not put out plenty
of filler over a 20+ year career, but when he is on his game, the good songs
seem to flow easily. On his new release, there is plenty to
celebrate.

If there is one complaint I have about him, it is that he just tries too
hard. This is evident on the title cut here, an earnest and solid
tune, presenting the trials and tribulations of interracial romance.
It has a welcome guest vocal from Chuck D, but, like too much of
Mellencamp's music, its reach exceeds its grasp.

Where his strength really shows is in the type of tunes that made him the
perfect Farm Aid spokesman. As mainstream country lost its relevance to
the heartland, Mellencamp's good-rockin' Midwestern vibe hit home. On
songs like Crazy Island, he sings of America as the "Silent
Majority" could perceive it. "Hey Hey America, you're some kind of crazy island/You're a place where dreams can grow, And
there's history in your mansions" But there's a dark side to our
Crazy Island - "Hey Hey America, with your salesmanship and your salaries/And your strip malls a
growin', And
your handguns and your heresies/don't hold no responsibility, in this land
of easy millions." Seemingly playing the typical liberal
rocker here, Mellencamp is really more in the Springsteen populist
tradition. Same Way I Do and Women Seem are delightful
songs, Mellencamp at his easygoing best. Peaceful World is another
winner, with absolutely perfect vocal accompaniment from India Arie. It
again has some of Mellencamp's vaguely political, "let's everybody get
along" lyrics. "It's what you do and not what you
say/If you're not part of the future, then get out of the way."

On the negative side, Worn Out Nervous Condition is a little too
"worn out," Shy goes nowhere, despite a nice lilting Caribbean
beat, and Deep Blue Heart uses a Trisha Yearwood guest vocal in
a vain attempt to bring some interest to the song. Still, Cuttin'
Heads is clearly one of Mellencamp's better albums and an enjoyable
listen.

BROKEN THINGS (Julie Miller); This is an
acclaimed 1999 release in the alternative country genre. Miller has a fine
voice, more than a little reminiscent of Lucinda Williams. While this is a
good enough record, it is not on a par with the best alt-country, such as, well
- Lucinda Williams. Miller's husband, Buddy, also a singer-songwriter,
contributes significantly to this record. As I listen to more of this type
of music, I find it sounding too much alike, and this record suffers from that
flaw.

The best songs here are Maggie, Ride the Wind to
Me, Orphan Train and The Speed of Light.

MY GRADE >> C+ (Pleasant listening, nothing special)

DARK SIDE OF THE SPOON (Ministry);
Formerly my favorite band, and still able to blow away all industrial metal
music (other than maybe Nine Inch Nails, if Trent Reznor ever does another
record), Ministry keeps the grind going on this release. A witty
title play on the old classic Pink Floyd record notwithstanding, this album,
like most Ministry is unsuitable for younger or easily offended listeners.
Now that I got that out of the way, I must also note that this record does not
live up to the high standard set by Ministry through the late 80s and early
90s. What's missing? I think the high BPM (beats per
minute) have been slowed down, probably in the interest of coming up with
something different. High BPMs are very conducive to the striking sound
that propelled Ministry to the forefront of the industrial category. They
can also get old very fast. What's still there? Tortured vocals,
lyrics full of bile and a fine production job that highlights the best playing
and writing of the band. The highlights here are Whip and Chain, Bad
Blood, Eureka Pile, and Nursing Home. The only new thing
they come up with that meets with some measure of success is 10/10, an
instrumental workout that incorporates a wild, "free jazz" saxopohone,
a la early 70s Stooges.

Why do I spend so much time on a record that only rates a
middle of the road grade? Al Jourgenson (main brain of the band) released
some of the most exciting, extreme, confrontational and, yes, rhythmic
music of the last ten years. If nothing else, he deserves a percentage of
the dollars made by NIN, Marilyn Manson and Rob Zombie.

MY GRADE >> B (Okay, if you like this sort of stuff)

ALERT TODAY ALIVE TOMORROW (The
Muffs); I'm pretty sure that my brother John recommended this
band to me years ago, and I was not overly impressed. I heard a song from
this record somewhere, and decided to give them another chance. I mean,
you've got to give a band some respect when they keep at it for years, ending up
on "Honest Don's" record label. Really!

Anyway, I am still not impressed with this band. Prettier Than Me
is a nice slow song, made even more effective by the hoarse, occasionally on key
vocals of Kim Shattuck. I'm Not Around,Blow Your Mind
and Jack Champagne (a nice instrumental) are serviceable songs.
That's about it.

MY GRADE >> C (Ho-hum)

IN NAME AND BLOOD (Murder City
Devils); Who said nobody uses the organ in hard rock
anymore? Certainly not this band, which uses the organ, not to accent a
song, but as an integral part of the songs. Most of this comes off as an
Iggy and the Stooges imitation, but it cannot sound anything but lame compared
to the Ig.

I Drink the Wine, Somebody Else's Baby and Bunkhouse are fine tunes in the
Stooges tradition, but this sure gets repetitive. The sole truly unique
touch is a cover of Neil Diamond's I'll Come Running, which is far more
effective than Urge Overkill's overrated version of Girl, You'll Be a Woman
Soon from the Pulp Fiction soundtrack.

THE FRAGILE (Nine Inch Nails); 5
years coming, the new NIN record finally arrived a couple months ago.
Almost two hours of music across two CDs, this is a fine record
overall.

I must note that, like all NIN records, the lyrics are unsuitable for
children and young teens. Yes, I mean you in the black trench coat!
Ah, hell, they are all going to listen anyway. (Don't even get me started
on 10 year olds seeing R-rated movies!)

A little background for the uninitiated. Nine Inch Nails is a band in
name only. Trent Reznor is NIN, at least from a studio
perspective. His debut record, Pretty Hate Machine (see Oldie
Review below), took a while to catch on, but it basically contained some of the
hardest music to ever become popular.

Trent has lost none of his production gifts; this is an absolutely
great-sounding record, whether played in the car, in the den or blasted through
your best stereo. The CD starts off with Somewhat Damaged, an
outstanding song, showcasing Reznor's gifts for marrying martial drum beats,
buzzsaw guitars and bleak lyrics. The Wretched, No, You Don't,
Into the Void are more fine examples of classic NIN. The title song,
I'm Looking Forward to Joining You Finally and Even Deeper
are NIN's version of a slow song - not romantic, just the usual formula slowed
down, here to good effect. The first alt-radio single, We're in This
Together, is not the best song on the record, but it has some of the most
optimistic lyrics you will ever hear from Reznor. Life and the world still
suck, they are all out to get us, but at least we've got company. Not
exactly Shiny Happy People, but it is a glimmer.

Some new twists here work well - piano interludes on the otherwise hard,
topnotch instrumental Just Like You Imagined, horns and the marching band
drums on another excellent instrumental Pilgramage (in a warped way, it
kinda reminds me a little of Fleetwood Mac's Tusk - not, I'm sure, what
Trent was trying to evoke.)

Like most double CDs, the great songs get stretched a bit thin, especially on
the second disc. Several
of the songs here are relatively quiet instrumental breaks that don't do much
for me, but do break up what could otherwise be a fairly unremitting series of loud
hard and fast songs.

This is clearly superior to their last effort, the overpraised Downward
Spiral.

MY GRADE >> A (worth the wait. NIN is one of the few
industrial bands to be able to sustain my interest into the late 90s.)

THINGS FALLING APART (Nine Inch Nails);
Consisting mostly of remixes of songs from his recent
commercial disappointment, the spectacular The Fragile, this record
continues to demonstrate Trent Reznor's mastery of his art. While
not a uniform success, Reznor's willingness to deconstruct his songs and
build them into new entities (with the assistance of outsiders) only draws
out the underlying solid fundamentals of the music.

Of course, the material here gives Reznor his best plate of offerings to toy
with since Pretty Hate Machine. Slipping Away is not quite as
ferocious as in the original (Into the Void); but it conveys a true feeling of
"slipping away." The
Wretched, while not slamming quite as hard as the original, is just as haunting in
its remix with added beeps and blips. The Great Collapse is an outstanding instrumental.
The price of Reznor's wide-ranging experimentation is that not everything
works. The Frail is remade as some type of wigged-out classical piece, to no great effect. Only the
last of the three versions of Starfuckers Inc. does much with the
song, recasting the song as a good drums'n'bass number.

SHAKE
HANDS WITH SHORTY (North Mississippi Allstars);
Brothers Luther and Cody Dickinson, despite only being
in their twenties, have musical roots going way back from Memphis to
Mississippi.Their father,
Jimmy Dickinson, has had a varied musical career from playing piano on The
Rolling Stones’ 1971 hit Wild Horses to producing the
Replacements’ 1987 album, Pleased To Meet Me.

But it was three Mississippi farmers, who happened to
play the blues, Otha Turner, R.L. Burnside, and Fred McDowell that inspired
the Dickinson brothers, along with Chris Chew on bass, to form the North
Mississippi Allstars. Burnside and McDowell wrote 7 of the 10 songs on the North
Mississippi Allstars debut album, Shake
HandsWith Shorty.Its roots are in hill country blues and it was nominated for a 2001
Grammy for Best Contemporary Blues.The
driving drum play of Cody is what gives it a modern sound.But it is the mean guitar playing of Luther that really sparks this album
right from the get-go with the rockin’ Shake ‘Em on Down.Drop Down Mama flat out boogies.Po Black Maddie and Skinny Woman blend to make one song
with a rambling Allman Brothers style complete with drum solo.Goin’ Down South has a Cream/Jimi Hendrix sound goin’ down.And is followed nicely by K.C. Jones (On The Road Again), a tragic
story sung in good-humor and aided by the lilting piano playing of East Memphis
Slim.Ironically, StationBlues,
written by Jacobs and Carter, sounds eerily like the McDowell-penned You
Gotta Move by The Rolling Stones.The
album concludes with Jr. Kimbrough’s All Night Long.This is boogie chillin’ music with some more Allman
Brothers flair.After a short 9+
minutes, the song fades out.But
the Dickinsons are not done; there is 7 more minutes of unannounced music
featuring drums and piano and more guitar pickin’ leaving you to believe, the
North Mississippi Allstars could go on playing all night long.

The Dickinson brothers did not rediscover the blues; it has
been in their backyard and on their porches the whole time.This is not the guitar-blazing soulless blues Stevie Ray Vaughan played.Nor is it the technically-expert tepid blues of Eric Clapton.This is hot and dirty blues right from the Delta.

MY GRADE >> B (It will now be interesting to see if
the Dickinson brothers draw from their blues roots and come up with some
original material.) -sh-

CENTRAL RESERVATION (Beth Orton); Her
1997 album, Trailer Park, was an excellent blend of folk and electronica,
and she has collaborated with the Chemical Brothers, among others. Now
that she has her "coolness" quota filled, she has returned with this
disc, much more focused on the folk sound, with increasing emphasis on her
amazing voice. The electronica/folk is still present on a couple tunes
here, but is downplayed. Consequently, this is not as adventurous as Trailer
Park, but only marginally less satisfying. I vastly prefer Beth Orton
to the more critically acclaimed Tori Amos and Bjork, whose vocal and musical
gyrations are merely annoying mirrors of the tedious drum solos of the
70s. Just a bunch of show-offs!

Here, as always, the songs are the key. The best ones are the more straightforward folk-influenced
tunes, most spectacularly on Pass in Time, and Feel to Believe. I
also like the adventurous title song, as well as Stolen Car. Sweetest Decline
is a pretty song. All in all, a fine followup from an artist with an
exciting future.

MY GRADE >> A- (Very good record, with minor flaws/annoyances)

STANKONIA (Outkast);
Hip-hop music in the 21st Century is dominated by the
profane, with more attention to lyrical skills than plowing new sonic
ground. Charles Barkley has been quoted as saying that we live in
odd times where the best rapper is a white guy (Eminem), and the best
golfer is a black guy. (I'm not sure who he meant.)

Well, Chuck, at least some things are heading back to normal. The
new album from Outkast represents the most innovative development in
hip-hop since NWA started down the gangsta path. Stankonia
may one day stand with NWA's Straight Outta Compton and Public Enemy's Fear of a Black
Planet as landmarks in rap music.

This is not a throwback; it is filled
with as much profanity and explicit imagery as most mainstream hip-hop. On
this record, Outkast has perfected its stew of hard-core rap, Prince and sweet slow
Southern soul. When this is all simmered in studio wizardry reminiscent
of Public Enemy's heyday, you've got a delicious feast.

The highlight for this unrepentant rocker is B.O.B. (Bombs over Bagdhad), sped up to techno-like
beats per minute, and as hard-hitting as the most aggressive punk rock, but
leavened with a
girl group chorus. Forget hip-hop, this one ranks as one of the best rock
songs of recent years. Funkanella skitters along on a distinctive
catchy beat. Tough Guy is indeed the featured "gangsta"
song, except for the great chorus, which seems to mock the premise -
"Everybody wants to be a tough guy."

Outkast do not shirk their "sensitive" side. I'll Call
Before I Come has Prince's trademark double entendre (though, amazingly,
even less subtle than the Short One himself) - this is what the Artist would have
sounded like if he had ever been able to figure out rap. So Fresh So Clean and
Ms. Jackson
maintain a smooth R& B feel, the latter with some genuine and heartfelt
lyrics.

Other standouts include It's OK (showcasing the multiple strength of
Outkast - good rapping skills, with classic choruses that highlight the music), Question Mark,
We Luv Deez Hoes (I told you it still had the explicit imagery), Humble
Mumble and Gasoline Dreams

MY GRADE >> A- (The masterful blend of deft wordplay,
slamming beats and wildly imaginative arrangements and production results in a
hip-hop classic.)

OWEN
(Owen);
Owen is the latest band for Mike Kinsella. Well, not actually a band
at all, as he played all instruments, wrote all the songs, and, I don't
know, he probably emptied the trash in the studio. Actually, he
recorded Owen in his home studio, so I certainly hope he emptied the trash.

Owen makes music for the long car ride on a deserted highway through the
dark night, as opposed to the windows down, stereo blaring music of a hot
summer day. It is music that is not easy to make, but Kinsella
succeeds for the most part with strong songs that slowly insinuate
themselves.

That Which Wasn't Said is a fine opener, an instrumental
acoustic guitar mood-setter, in the vein of Yo La Tengo. However, Accidentally,
another acoustic number, is three times as long, and not quite as strong.
It sounds like Owen has been listening to too much Tortoise. Most Days And,
as well as the next song, cleverly titled Most Nights, begin with minimalist
music (a bit too Low-ish for my taste), and then nicely evolve towards fine
mid-tempo rock with the best vocals on the record. Places to Go is a very strong song,
maybe the only song on the record that would fall anywhere near the
mainstream concept of "rock." The acoustic guitar playing on
this song is inspired.

Owen has a clear idea of what it is trying to achieve on
this debut, and for the most part, it succeeds.

APOCALYPSE NOW (Pere Ubu); This
has nothing to do with the great movie (but see my comments on the DVD version
of the movie in Assorted Musings.) It
is a live album from Pere Ubu, released in 1999. The concert was recorded
in 1991 at Shuba's in Chicago, yet another hip club I have never been to.

I am not a big fan of Pere Ubu; nothing bad, I've just
never really got into their music, despite owning a couple of pretty good
records. This is a fine record, a blend of acoustic and electric
songs. It is notable how much fun the band seems to be having, interacting
with each other and the audience. Live rock music does not have to be full
of angst and pouting or special effects. The first song, My Theory of
Spontaneous Similtude highlights Pere Ubu's playful approach to the evening,
with leader David Thomas soliciting spontaneous lyrical contributions from both
band members and audience members, generally to fine effect. Life of
Riley, Wine Dark Sparks, Worlds in Collision, We Have the
Technology and Oh Catherine shine in these live arrangements. Heaven
features angelic acoustic guitars, and rough, but effective, vocal
harmonies. Non-Alignment Pact is a good flat-out rocker, prompting
a short version of Now I Wanna Be Your Dog by the Stooges, highlighting
the roots of the Pere Ubu song. This also prompts enthusiastic response
from the audience, causing Thomas to offer the tongue-in-cheek observation that
"Yeah, that's what they want - that mind-dead rock." The rest of
the songs are pleasant enough.

What a great live record can offer over and above the
studio record is either a different take on the songs, or a superb record of the
concert, making you get a feel for what it was like to be there. This
record does a fine job on both counts.

MY GRADE >> A- (A fine live record, featuring great songs, and
communicating effectively the ambiance of the event.)

NEW WORLD RECORD (Poster
Children); A really fine band from Champaign, Illinois, Poster
Children has put out some great music throught the 90s, but have never caught
on, even in the "indie" world. Their music rocks hard, but
defies easy categorization beyond that. It was not "grunge" and
it is certainly not "industrial" (despite a surprising Ministry
reference buried in the middle of Wait and See.) Their best record
is Junior Citizen, but
I've never really heard them make a bad, or uninteresting record.

As a side note, Poster Children have always been one of
the most computer-savvy bands around - this CD is advertised as being "y2k
compliant." Additionally, the CD contains 5 screensavers, 3 live
videos and a computer game. Cool!

Anyway, on to the music, since that is our reason for
being (here, at least). Accident Waiting to Happen opens the record
with a dissonant beat, drums rolling in the background, jagged guitar riffs
coming and going, and vocals slowly enunciated over the impending chaos.
This leads into a more traditional flat-out rocker, 6x6, and the CD is
off and flying. Chemicals,Wait andSee, and Straightline
are the best of the rest, a generally solid batch of tunes.

MY GRADE >> B+ (Another solid effort from a band that may have
plenty of commercial reasons to quit, but has plenty of artistic reasons to keep
on.)

RATED R (Queens of the Stone Age); The
Queens are considered state of the art in the genre known as "stoner
rock." Combining certain metal attributes with a psychedelic feel
straight out of the early 70s, Queens of the Stone Age attempt to bring back
hard rock virtues in this age of bland pop. Regrettably, they are not
consistently successful.

I am not a huge fan of the type of music that is the
inspiration for stoner rock, so I may not be the best judge of this.
Repeated listenings to Rated R did reveal a certain depth and variety not there at first
spin. Two of the better songs, In the Fade and Tension Head have a very early 90s
Soundgarden feel. Feel Good Hit of the Summer agreeably rushes by in a
drug and alcohol-fueled frenzy. Lightning Song is a nice page from the Jimmy
Page acoustic guitar book.

Despite my general lack of enthusiasm for this record, I believe that the
band does just about all that can be done given its meager sources of
inspiration.

KID A (Radiohead); Here
is a band that had everyone watching to see how they would follow the triumph of
OK Computer, 1997's consensus album of the year. Celebrated (almost
worshipped) by those who were eager for someone to reclaim the ambition and
artistry in hard rock, OK Computer was an excellent record. The skilled
performances by the band and Thom Yorke's operatic vocalizing received most of
the attention, but the record's real strengths were its solid foundation of
great songs and state-of-the-art production.

The same adventurousness that produced OK Computer has led to Kid A,
a radically different record that takes far more chances. Risking
alienating their huge audience of progressive/alternative rock fans, this record
throbs to the vibe of electronica and ambient music. Popular in Europe,
these trends have gone nowhere in the States. Radiohead's embrace of that
aesthetic is a brave artistic move, though probably a foolhardy commercial
one. While there is no mistaking Yorke' vocals, only rarely on Kid A
are they used in the classic rock way.

The tone of the record is set very effectively with the first track, Everything
In Its Right Place; an atmospheric feel, with Yorke's vocals distinctive as
usual, but ever so slightly warped electronically. National Anthem
is the best example of experimentation that pays off, with the bass pushed to
the front, the guitar and keyboard providing atmospheric flourishes, giving way
to a free jazz squall of horns that blasts through midway. The sensational
Idioteque sounds nothing like a rock song and everything like a dance
song; only Yorke's vocals make it sound at all like Radiohead. Optimistic
is the most "traditional" Radiohead song, with a more straightforward
use of Yorke's vocals. Some songs just don't work - the title song, In
Limbo and Treefingers go nowhere (just like most ambient music).

In short, Radiohead proves to be not only a band unafraid to try a different
approach, but also a band serious about finding the essence of what makes those
other approaches work. I do not think this is quite as good a record as OK
Computer, but I admire the spirit in which it was
made.

MY GRADE >> B+ (The songs are not as consistently good as
on OK Computer, but the high points here rank up with Radiohead's
best.)

AMNESIAC (Radiohead);
Radiohead is back with a quick follow-up to last year's Kid
A. Amnesiac was rumored to consist of the more commercial songs from
the Kid A recording sessions, but don't expect a return to the more
radio-friendly OK Computer. Radiohead is an extremely
adventurous band, seemingly unconcerned with trying to meet expectations
from fans, critics, or (certainly) their record label. So, how do
these songs differ from those released on Kid A? In general,
these songs feature more and less distorted vocals from singer Thom Yorke.
Since Yorke's distinctive high-pitched vocals are the real foundation of
Radiohead's fan base, they may identify more with this record.

Packt Like Sardines in a Crushed Tin Box starts
things right where Kid A left off. Electronic effects dominate
rather than electric guitar. Yorke's vocals are subdued, while the lyrics
may be aimed at his highly loyal fan base, still yearning for another OK
Computer. "After years of waiting, nothing came/And you
realize you're looking, looking in the wrong place/I'm a reasonable man, get off
my case." Pyramid Song is initially dominated by a lone piano
and Yorke's vocals, then the band kicks in with yet more eerie background noise,
falling just short of the haunting effect of much of Kid A. Pulk/Pull Revolving Doors and most of
You and Whose Army (until a great, rollicking finish) are just bizarre.

For
all of Radiohead's admirable ambition, the best song here is the most
radio-friendly. I Might Be Wrong has a great trancey groove and Yorke's vocals
enhance the song, rather than distracting the listener. It's one of the
best blends of rock and electronic music, and certainly one of the best songs of
the year. The balance of the record has some nice moments as well. The
Morning Bell Amnesiac features classic Yorke vocals, with a nice soft melody of
keyboards. Dollars and Cents is one of the more straightforward songs, with outstanding percussion, although Yorke's vocals are almost as
over the top as the inane lyrics (As usual, lyrics are not one of Radiohead's
strong points.) Hunting Bears is a short instrumental, with a fine electric guitar
solo - loud, but still warm, like a Yo La Tengo song. Life in a Glass House has a
late night woozy jazz feel, with a nice contribution from the horns. Yorke's vocals are everything
his fans could expect - for better or worse.

Radiohead
continues to take advantage of their unexpected commercial success to make
adventurous music. There is much more to admire about this band than Thom
Yorke's vocals. While they have once again fallen short of a home run,
this is another solid hit.

MY GRADE >> B+ (Another ambitious record from
a band that seems determined to take only their most adventurous fans along with
them for the ride.)

THE BATTLE OF LOS ANGELES (Rage
Against the Machine); Another acclaimed 1999 release from the
band that was a forerunner of the rock/rap genre now (poorly) represented by the
likes of Korn, Limp Bizkit, et.al. Now, I was an early fan of their first
record; this band's intensity is second to none, musically and
lyrically. But, despite some sincere attempts to advance their musicv
(and, yes, I know that Tom Morello is an outstanding and innovative guitarist), this
basically sounds like a batch of inferior songs left off of their first
record.

If I had any bona fide "rock critic"
credentials, I would certainly lose them with this review, but I am dumbfounded
as to what people see in this record . The only explanation that I can
offer for its popularity with critics is that it is certainly more "honest"
and powerful than the awful, cynical (yet wildly popular) music of the aforementioned Korn
and Limp Bizkit. That Rage is a far better band than those others is
beyond dispute; that this record is thus a real disappointment should also be
evident.

MY GRADE >>
C (Disappointing effort from a band that is recycling its material,
lyrically and sonically)

LOOK NOW LOOK AGAIN (Rainer
Maria); I wish I could remember where I heard about this band,
because this record has some of the best songs I've heard all year. This
band conveys a unique sound and identity, while evoking echoes of Throwing
Muses, especially Kristin Hersh. There is stunning male/female harmony on
this record. Caithlin De Marrais has an amazing voice, and the band uses
it to their advantage, with one of the guys contributing wonderful harmonies on
several tunes. It is to their credit that they can take advantage of those
voices, mostly without overwhelming the songs. The musicianship,
especially the guitars, receives nearly equal billing. I am sure that it
can be tempting for this band to just compose songs that show off the vocals,
but this record rises above a mere vocal showcase.

The highlights here are Rise, the song that most
evokes Kristin Hersch; Planetary, which first showcases the superb
male/female harmonies; Feeling Neglected?, The Reason the Night is
Long and Centrifuge. The only complaint about this record is
that there are a couple of songs that pale in comparison with the standard set
on most of the tunes. Oh, it is also a bit skimpy at 9 songs and 35
minutes. But, overall, this is a band to watch.

MY GRADE >> A- (A very strong record from a band with a
distinctive sound)

BETTER
VERSION OF ME (Rainer Maria);
If you are going to plow the fields of the "emo-rock" genre,
you've got to bring the feeling. Rainer Maria does it as well as
anyone on A Better Version of Me. Continuing to develop the
themes of their superb 1999 effort, Look Now Look Again, Rainer Maria
deliver another fine batch of songs. Caithlin De Marrais' vocals are in the great
rock tradition of Liz Phair, Mick Jagger and others. Their strong
voices
might not work with other kinds of music, but are perfectly suited for the
songs they sing.

Artificial Light kicks things off on a high note, with the
signature shimmering guitar combining with the soaring vocals. On Thought
I Was, William Kuehn's drums come to the front, leading the song like a
young Charlie Watts. The Contents of Lincoln's Pockets redeems its somewhat precious lyrics
with the wonderful vocal interplay of De Marrais and guitarist Kyle Fischer. The
same vocals make Hell and High Water a rousing closer. Ceremony
and Spit and Fire are also highlights. Save My Skin is a
standout track, with superb musical interplay backed by the best lyrics on the
record. Questions abound - "Tried to mention all my sins, but I
didn't know where to begin. Should I forget them? Or should I let
them begin again?"

In general, you will hear many questions in the lyrics on this record.
"Why is this technology an anathema to me?...Am I wicked? Am I
right? Or am I just reacting all the time?...And should I feel cold and
far? And should I feel weightless?...How can you deal with that kind of
information?...Have you got any magic tricks that will work for
me?..." This is a tough record to get to know lyrically, but that is
no barrier to its enjoyment. In fact, it gives the listener something new
to hear each time. And how many times do you hear the word
"anathema" used in a song?

This band beautifully blends the music, lyrics and vocals together to make a
record that reminds me of a college junior - the teen angst is still there, but
the glimmer of a positive future is breaking through. Optimism beginning
to overwhelm gloominess. Rainer Maria has raised
the bar for emo - hell, for just about all of guitar rock.

MY GRADE >> A- (More consistent than Look Now Look
Again, although without the peaks of the earlier record)

THE FRACTURED HYMNAL (Red Star
Belgrade); This is a two-man Chicago band that I read about in
one of the papers. While it takes a few listens to appreciate, it is a
fine record. Songwriter and front man Bill Curry writes lyrics that are
far more adventurous and accomplished than most these days. Bulldog may be the best song
on the record, and it appears to be about the atrocities in Yugoslavia over many
years, and between many tribes. Other highlights are Sunsets &
Camden, End of the Line, West Virginia, Favorite Thing,
Charles Bukowski, First Night, Writer, Poet, Slut (bad word
alert, but features some of the best music on the record!). While the
music is fine, the
lyrics here are very strong, really the best part of the record. And
that is really saying something, since bands who attempt to reach high lyrically
rarely distinguish themselves, and also usually unduly neglect the musical
side. By no means a flawless record, the successes here are more frequent
than the failures.

MY GRADE >> B+ (Recommended; worth the money)

FIZZY FUZZY BIG & BUZZY (The
Refreshments); A 1996 release with a "Mexico" theme;
I heard a song from them somewhere that I liked. This is the most recent
release I found from them. Blue Collar Suicide gets the record off
to an excellent start, using a "Nirvana" slow/fast approach to a
basically roots rock tune. Mexico features some native Mexican
instrumentation and some funny, although profane, lyrics. Interstate
is an "alt-country" style song that succeeds fairly well. Nada
is a fine closing song, a good showcase for the vocalist, and featuring some
tasteful guitar playing. Down Together, Banditos and Don't
Wanna Know are fine songs based on very straightforward verse/chorus/verse
dynamics. Roger Clyne, the vocalist has a good "rock/country" voice in the fashion of Wilco's Jeff
Tweedy. Nothing revolutionary here, but not bad at all.

MY GRADE >> B (There are enough good songs here that I may be
tempted to find a newer release from this band.)

REVEAL
(REM);
REM's music has had that tired feeling ever since Bill Berry abandoned the
drum kit due to health reasons. The impact of his departure is not
really noticeable in the drumming on Reveal, but the spirit.
Frankly, other than vocalist Michael Stipe, the band seems to be going through the
motions. Now, for a band as good as REM, even operating on cruise
control will produce some good songs, and Reveal has plenty.
Just don't expect to hear them consistently achieve the transcendent level of earlier
classics.

The Lifting is a pretty good leadoff song, and representative of the
vibe on Reveal. Pleasant, breezy, with fine vocals by Stipe,
but missing the signature
Peter Buck guitar flourishes. She Just Wants to
Be is the best tune here, the only one that can truly rank among REM's classics.
It features great acoustic guitar with
an inventive and mesmerizing melody. Stipe sings in his quietly
hopeful way that "it's not like if angels ...remind us of what, when,
why or who/that how's up to us, me and you/and now is greater than the whole
of the past." Imitation of Life is another light song; like the "sugar cane
and
lemonade" Stipe sings of, the song is momentarily satisfying, but not very
filling or particularly nutritious. I also liked All the Way to Reno
(conveying a real western feel) and their most
blatant attempt to mimic a Brian Wilson song, Summer Turns To High
(complete with lyrics of "cotton candy (and) caramel apples.")

Once you pick through these highlights, the rest is pleasant, but
disposable. I'm
sure that REM, like the few other bands who have produced several albums that
will last forever, gets tired of hearing that they were better in the old days,
but it is part of the burden of greatness. From those who once gave us
priceless music, much is forever expected.

MY GRADE >> B (Even sub-par REM makes for a
pretty good record.)

LOVERS
ROCK (Sade);
Sade was popular in the late 80s, primarily due to her entrancing
vocals. The true embodiment of easy listening - a pleasing vocalist
cooing innocuous lyrics backed with subdued lite jazz music - Sade stays
firmly within the four walls of the genre. By Your Side, Immigrant,
Lovers Rock, It's Only Love that Gets You Through are not bad
if you like this sort of thing. The Sweetest Gift gives off a
minor Roberta Flack vibe. The rest of the songs are just wisps of smoke
vanishing in the air. Overall, the feeling here is of overwhelming
boredom. This stuff goes down well on Lite Jazz radio. If you
are trying to get some sleep, crank this up.

Some believe that Sade's music is sensual; thus, the Lovers Rock
title. I suppose that, for the right people in the right context, it could
be. I prefer something that grooves a bit more, such as Prince or Bob
Marley, where it gets you moving and the juices flowing. But, of
course, each of us has our own hot buttons.

I think it's time to end this review before things get any hotter.

MY GRADE >> C (A bit of a snoozefest.)

ALL
ABOUT CHEMISTRY (Semisonic);
All About
Chemistry, Semisonic’s third album, is not so much a beacon of light
as it is a beaker of insight into love and relationships.The Minneapolis trio of songwriter, lead guitarist, and singer Dan
Wilson; bassist John Munson; and drummer Jacob Slichter explore these
relationships as if conducting scientific experiments.Their continued use of synthesizers and sound effects connotes the
stirring up of laboratory formulas to describe the trials and tribulations
of love.

Similar to their previous album, Feeling Strangely Fine, which put them on the musical map, Semisonic
starts out their latest effort with the best song on the CD.Chemistry shows the clever songcraft of Wilson and
is your basic Chemistry 101 course.Bed has an ‘80s techno-pop sound and is about
getting someone into bed.“Well
show me a friendship that’s pure and chaste/And I’ll show you an engine
that’s dying to race.”Follow
is one of the highlights on this album.It
is a nice song with a good melody and shows Wilson as a pop classicist.“Love me as well as you know/And everything else will follow.”The chemical effects involved with happiness and love are described in
another catchy tune, Sunshine & Chocolate.With a Beatles-like piano intro, Who’s Stopping You is an
interesting song showing off the fine drumming of Slichter.I Wish starts out as an excellent song with more of Slichter’s
drum work and some fuzzy guitars.“I
wish I could be more like someone you wish I could be.”Unfortunately, the song goes on way too long with an instrumental ending
showing little muscle or spark.One
True Love is co-written by Wilson and Carole King and features some nice
harmonies by the two with King playing electric piano.Get A Grip is the one true rocker on All
About Chemistry.“Get a grip
on yourself, you know you should/I’ve got a grip on myself and it feels
good.”Kids do not try this
experiment alone or you may risk blindness.Anyway, All AboutChemistry ends with a couple of unspectacular concoctions thrown
into the mix.

Semisonic’s use of synthesizers and various techno sound
effects along with the string orchestration shows an attempt to create romance
in a test tube.With their 1998
album, Feeling Strangely Fine, the
production was both reminiscent of the Beatles (from their colorful coat days)
and of the overly produced pop (remember ELO) of the 1970’s.All About Chemistry
is more in tune with the technology driven pop songs of the 1980’s and leaves
you feeling emotionless.Semisonic
plays it safe, using no combustibles to blow up in their face.There is, however, no passion or fire.They could not come up with anything else on their last album
to rival Closing Time and there is no song on their newest album that
comes close this time.

MY GRADE >> C+ (Lacking in chemical reaction,
but if you like finely crafted pop songs, you are in the right class.)
-sh-

1000 HURTS (Shellac);
Shellac is the latest vehicle for Steve Albini's rigid punk
rock aesthetic, complete with spiteful, angry lyrics. Shellac's
music takes the usual three piece punk approach, and adds its own
distinctive elements - Albini's guitar sounding like its being dragged
across a metal grate, a brutally precise rhythm section, the traditional
clean mix and production that Albini is famous for, and a fine use of
silence and open space, which serves to further enhance the punishing
music.

So, what's the problem? Well, it is starting to get a bit old on 1000
Hurts. The unrelenting, unvarying approach that Albini forces on
himself and his colleagues leaves little room to grow or change. The
absence of notable songs does not help either. Prayer to God is a
typically venomous Albini song, and then the rest of the album serves up less
distinctive versions of the same basic song. While there are some moments
on the record (Song Against Itself, the rockin' 45 second finale of Mama
Gina), Albini needs to rethink where this band is headed.

MY GRADE >> C (Albini is a visionary who is slowly being
trapped inside his own dogmatic approach to rock.)

YOU'RE
THE ONE (Paul Simon);
Paul Simon may be getting old, as he is told in Old,
a fun little song with a Buddy Holly guitar strum to it, but he will still
challenge his listening audience.At
his best, Simon will challenge you to see the world and maybe even yourself
a little differently.On his
latest effort, You’re The One,
too often the challenge is in staying with the song and not drifting away.There is still some of the exotic and worldly instrumentation
underlying the lyrics.That
makes for some interesting listening.However, the melodies and rhythms shift back and forth
leaving Simon to sing in a monotone style or even talk his way through some lyrics.

The
title track, You’re The One, is an instance where that song structure
works.The shifting is not just in
the music, but also in the blame.“You’re
the one, you broke my heart…” to “I’m the one…” and finally,
“We’re the ones…”Another
highlight is the reincarnating theme of Senorita With A Necklace Of Tears.“I don’t want to be a judge, and I don’t want to be a jury.I know who I am.Lord knows who I will be.”Even here, though, you start to drift away only to be pulled back by the
percussion and understated, yet excellent guitar work.And after the droning of Love, the song Pigs, Sheep And Wolves,
in its simple and obvious correlation between animals and human behavior,
becomes a welcome relief.It is Simon having a little fun, yet doing so with some
intelligence.You’re The One concludes with Quiet.The challenge here, again, is unintentionally two-fold.Simon, with the perspective of an older and wiser man, has found quiet
solitude challenging our materialistic ambitions.He is also challenging us to work a little harder to stick with the song
and hear this wisdom.

Pigs, Sheep And Wolves along with Old are
fun.Even if you do like the
complexity of song style in You’re The One, and I do, the rest of the
songs do not fare quite as well.

MY GRADE >>C+ ( Paul Simon continues to
share his pearls of wisdom, but with You’re
The One, there are not enough pearls to keep you consistently interested.)

THE HOT ROCK (Sleater-Kinney);
This is a band from the Northwest, consisting of three women (riot grrls, as
they used to be known), who play uncompromising 90s hard rock. They were
formerly very punk, in musical sound and attitude. This new record
maintains the attitude, but the sound has advanced. This may not be good
news to their old fans, but they have fashioned a fine work with The Hot Rock.

The vocals have always distinguished Sleater-Kinney (for
better, and sometimes, for worse), but here the music takes center stage.
It is evident from the opening songs, Start Together and Hot Rock,
that this band has made quantum leaps in their abilities to play and write
music. Their previous record, Dig Me Out, won them much critical
acclaim, and certainly was an energetic breath of fresh air. But it always
comes back to the songs, and on the new record, there are numerous
standouts. Additional highlights include Don't Talk Like,
Get Up, One Song For You and A Quarter to Three. It
now appears that this could be one of the better bands of the new millennium,
assuming they continue the progression they have shown on this record.

MY GRADE >> B+ (Recommended; worth the money)

ALL HANDS ON THE BAD ONE (Sleater-Kinney); This
2000 release from this band from the Northwest, is a solid progression from
their previous record The Hot RockThis band refuses to be
restricted by the rigidities of the punk genre, and, while the results can
sometimes be uneven and the production remains defiantly lo-fi, the peaks continue to get higher.

As always, the vocals are front and center here. The
unconventional phrasing and keys that the group sings in make for oddly
compelling harmonies. Their lyrics increasingly get better in conveying a
stark emotional honesty, seemingly coming from hard-fought experience. As for the music, it gets better with each album;
this is one tight trio. Sleater-Kinney shows the value of a good band
staying together and growing through a series of records. They have not
abandoned the basics, or tried something wholly different each time out, but
have made consistent improvements. They are truly a band whose expertise
has caught up with their passion.

The title song is the best example of the state of the
band today. Other highlights here are #1 Must Have (featuring
outstanding lyrics reflecting on the riot grrl movement that spawned Sleater-Kinney
set to music by way of Fugazi), Leave You Behind, The Swimmer, The
Ballad of a Ladyman, Ironclad, and The Professional (with a
riff from a Blue Oyster Cult song).

MY GRADE >> A- (I previously wrote that could be one
of the better bands of the new millennium; nothing here changes that opinion)
-jb-

ASTRO LOUNGE (Smash Mouth );
Well, I fell for it again. Smash Mouth's first record featured one
tremendous song, the radio hit Walking on the Sun, and a bunch of rotten
ska-influenced tunes. After hearing the fine, bouncy hit singles All
Star and Can't Get Enough of You, Baby, and seeing a positive review
from Jim DeRogatis in the Sun-Times, I bought this record (released 1999).
And, surprise, this has two great songs and more rotten ska-influenced
tunes! To be fair, Diggin' Your Scene,Defeat You,Come On Come
On and Then the Morning Comes are passable songs, and the two
afore-mentioned hits feature a tremendous pumping keyboard sound (Farfisa organ, I
think?), and Graham Parker-like vocals. Although, it is interesting that
none of the band members are credited with the keyboards that are the secret of
these songs' success. We should probably give most of the credit for this
record's limited pleasures to producer Eric Valentine.

MY GRADE >> B- (Nothing special, but some redeeming qualities.)

MACHINA II : THE FRIENDS AND ENEMIES
OF MODERN MUSIC (Smashing Pumpkins); This
is supposedly the final chapter in the Smashing Pumpkins soap opera.
Released only as MP3 downloads so far, you can get these 25 songs (free &
legal) at www.metrochicago.com, among other
places. Billy Corgan may be a bit whiny ("If only a million of you
buy my records now, I'm going to break up the band") and occasionally
pretentious, but there are few artists today who can match his combination of
solid songwriting and adventurous arrangements and production. He also is
unafraid to make this risky business move, a combination of "Thank
You" to his fans, and an apparent "Hasta la vista" to his record label,
which stands to forego as much money as Corgan has with this move.

While these songs are mostly outtakes and alternate takes from the Machina recording
sessions, they do not have the feel of leftover or inferior tracks.
Surprisingly, Machina II is superior to the fine Machina.

The songs showcase the many facets of Smashing Pumpkins. There are the fine straightforward rock
songs, such as Saturnine, Dross, Let Me Give the World To You
and two versions of Cash Car Star. Glass Theme is a short, even more aggressive rocker, one of their most
effective. Demonstrating the Pumpkins' total mastery of the midtempo
rocker are tunes such as Home (with Corgan's vocals
fitting the material perfectly), Here's to the Atom Bomb, In My Body,
Vanity and Go. We also get an alternate, much more experimental (and better) version of
Heavy Metal
Machine from Machina, a slightly different take of the fine Try
Try Try, also from Machina, and two versions of If There Is a God (the acoustic version
much more effective).

If the Pumpkins are really history at this point, this is a superb final
statement. It will be fascinating to
see where Billy goes next.

MY GRADE >> A- (It's a sad day when the finest rock band
of the 90s calls it quits.)

XO (Elliott Smith); Released
in 1998 to widespread acclaim from many knowledgeable music fans, including my
brother Marty. Sorry, folks. I found the record to be incredibly
affected and phony.. The sound is meant to be "lo-fi" folk
music, but it sounds like Smith is just slumming here. "Hey, ain't I
cool with my acoustic guitar?" Pavement and Sebadoh take this
"lo-fi" approach to Smashing Pumpkins/Nirvana music, and it usually
works because the songs are good enough that the lack of production values is
irrelevant. Here, the songs are annoying, and most folk music is "lo-fi",
anyway. The only song I liked a bit is "Baby Britain"

MY GRADE >> C (A lame record)

THROTTLE JUNKIES (Soil);
Heavy metal, recommended by Jim DeRogatis. Does a nice job with this
genre, produced by Steve Albini (producer of many, and artist behind Big Black
and Shellac). As with much of heavy metal, the musicianship is crisp and
tight, and Albini's production is the usual fine job. This is very
Metallica-sounding circa And Justice for All. (I consider that a
good thing.) Best songs are Everything, Road to Ruin (be careful about appropriating song or album titles
from the vaunted Ramones!), F-Hole. However, as also is true with
much of heavy metal, it is way too pretentious, especially lyrically. And,
I can't help it, but every time I listen to metal, I think of Spinal Tap, and I
start laughing. While that may make as much sense as having an 11 on the
amplifier, too many bands like Soil fall into the "Tap" trap.
Anyway, Throttle Junkies is OK.

ARCHES AND AISLES (The Spinanes);
Having lost superb drummer Scott Plouf to Built to Spill,
Rebecca Gates is left with a raft of studio players, and founders about on the
11 tracks here. Sadly, the Spinanes turned out to have only one great
album in them. Plouf was smart enough to move on to a better band.
Gates should do likewise.

MY GRADE >> C- (Boring, and a continued disappointment given
their earlier work)

LIVE
IN NEW YORK CITY (Bruce Springsteen);
Bruce Springsteen live can be described as part Bob
Dylan and part Elvis Presley.His
concerts are a roller coaster ride of marathon proportions.His previous tour however, in promotion of the Ghost Of
Tom Joad, was more in the Woody Guthrie mode.Now, the E Street Band is back and follows up their recent tour with Live
In New York City.The
two-disc set was recorded from two Madison Square Garden shows on June 29
and July 1, 2000.

At 51, you will not find the Boss running around the
stage and beyond like in his glory days.But what still makes Springsteen one of the greatest live performers
in rock and roll is the music.Too
often, without the magic of seeing the performance, live albums do not hold
up well.On the other hand,
Springsteen’s songs played live are frequently superior to the studio
versions.

For many die-hard fans, possessing an assortment of bootleg
(sorry "Import" live shows) – first, shame on you; – second, you
may be a little disappointed in the sound quality of this recording.The sound is not all that crisp.Garry
Tallent’s bass is muffled.And
while the vocals are played up, the guitar work is played down a notch.Max Weinberg’s booming drums are not adequately captured.Roy Bittan’s majestic piano playing is evident, but Danny
Federici’s organ playing, swirling with emotion, is lost in the guitar din on
this tour and is hard to hear on Live In
New York City as well.

The song selection could have also been done better.The CDs are mostly from an HBO TV special.The first ten songs are consistent with the concert tour.After that, ten more songs are added and unrelated to the song order in
the actual shows.Live In New York City does contain 20 of the roughly 25 songs
Springsteen would play at any one show.Missing
are tour staples Promised Land, Light Of Day, Thunder Road,
and Bobby Jean.Consequently,
the double-CD package does not quite capture the rocking nature of the tour.

All that being said, Live
In New York City is definitely worth the price of admission.Culled from all parts of Springsteen’s career, and including two new
songs, this is a collection even those bored with the same-old, same-old will
enjoy.Yes, Badlands and Jungleland
seem a little tired.And The
River is a bit awkward with Springsteen’s off-speed delivery.Overall, however, Springsteen offers us some new revelations.Starting with the thunderous pounding of Weinberg’s drums to open My
Love Will Not Let You Down, the Boss with the E Street Band are off on
another ride.It may not be quite
as long nor with as many dips and curves as in previous years, but does show the
band is still rocking.Youngstown
is an absolute killer live and is followed by Murder Incorporated.These two songs are the highlights of a high-energy sequence that shows
Nils Lofgren has mastered the wonderfully gnarled guitar solos ala Bruce
himself.Ending disc
One is a last minute addition and not listed on the CD packaging.Oh yeah, it just happens to be Born To Run.

Tenth Avenue Freeze Out starts off disc Two.During the course of the song, Springsteen breaks into Take Me To The
River, which then evolves into some of his signature banter.As a rock and roll preacher, he turns the obligatory band introduction
into an art form.The two new songs
follow.First, get on board the
train that will carry you to the Land Of Hopes And Dreams.Contrast that with the killing of an unarmed man, Amadou
Diallo, by New York City police in American Skin.“41 Shots…” is the haunting refrain, “…and we’ll
take that ride/’Cross this bloody river.”Another highlight is a stark rendition of Born In The USA.Evoking the pain of a Vietnam veteran, it is hardly a version politicians
would choose to promote American patriotism.Springsteen has, in effect, taken his song back.The CD concert ends with a gentle song in If I Should Fall Behind.The E-Streeters, including Clarence Clemons, Steve Van Zandt, and Patti
Scialfa take turns singing the lines such as:“If as we’re walking a hand should slip free/I’ll wait for you/And
if I should fall behind/Wait for me.”Springsteen
could very well be singing about his own relationship with the E Street Band.Don’t Look Back, may also help describe this relationship, “We made
it through the heart of a hurricane/We tore it apart and put it together
again.”

Springsteen has always done a good job of giving his fans
what they want without sinking into nostalgia.The E Street Band is back and, for the most part, sounding as fresh as
ever.If the two new songs are any
indication, the Boss and the E Steet Band are still a vital force in today’s
rock and roll.

“So put your foot to the floor darlin’, don’t look
back.”

MY GRADE >> B+ (The sound quality and song
sequencing could be better, but there is plenty of great music.A good bang for your buck.) -sh-

SHANGRI-LA
DEE DA (Stone
Temple Pilots); The Stone Temple Pilots have lacked respect in the past
because their songs too often sound like someone else’s music.They have borrowed liberally from their contemporaries and their
predecessors.Shangri-LA DEE
DA, STP’s fifth album is no different in that respect.But what helps make it work for the band is the chameleon-like
singing of Scott Weiland.And
though their latest album is not musically cohesive, it is finally lyrically
coherent.More than that – on Shangri-LA DEE DA, Weiland faces his
demons, sings the praise of the woman who saved him, offers a lullaby to his
young son, but continues to run from the demons still lurking.

The demon drug addiction comes crushing down from the start
on Dumb Love.“Couldn’t
find a way to live through the pain.”Days
of the Week has a pop sound that masks that continuing battle with drug
addiction.“She’ll get what she
wants/Can’t seem to get enough.”The
theme continues with Coma, in a suffocating barrage of rock and roll.“Nobody breathin’ in a coma.”Two rockers, Hollywood Bitch with its heavy sound and catchy
sing-along lyrics, and Too Cool Queenie with its too obvious diatribe
against Courtney Love, are passable songs.They just seem out of place in this otherwise introspective journey.Shangri-LA DEE DA does have a bit of a soft middle.In an ethereal vocal style on Wonderful, Weiland sings of the
woman who helped save him from his demise, “I wanna ask you to forgive me/I
haven’t been the best with all that I had.”Black Again starts off strutting but quickly settles into bland
melodic fare.Hello It’s Late
is, in a sense, a sequel to Carly Simon’s That’s The Way I’ve Always Heard
It Should Be.Simon sings about
agreeing to get married because it is what’s expected of her.On STP’s follow-up, Weiland laments that decision.“It kills me just because it can’t be erased – we’re married.”Hello It’s Late so eerily sounds like Simon’s song from over
30 years ago I was checking the songwriting credits for her name.I could not find it.Regeneration
has STP revisiting their Jane’s Addiction sound.While Bi-PolarBear is microcosm of the entire
CD.It goes from the airy mellow
sound to the smothering crush of Eric Kretz’s drums, Robert DeLeo’s bass,
and Dean DeLeo’s guitars and back again.Transmissions From A Lonely Room is STP doing Billy Squier doing
Led Zeppelin.A Song For
Sleeping is a beautiful song with Weiland facing the responsibility of
fatherhood.“I’ll protect
you/From the demons of the night.”The
irony of those lyrics is not lost on Weiland as he follows that up and concludes
with Long Way Home.In a
Nirvana-like song from hell – it is the realization that the demons are still
there and waiting.

The Stone Temple Pilots have often been compared
unfavorably to Nirvana as a grunge-wanna-be.But, while Nirvana was not the blissful state-of-mind for Kurt Cobain,
Scott Weiland has seemingly overcome his heroin addiction.And with his marriage, his son, and his music, he may now be living in
Shangri-La.Judging from this
album, Weiland does not appear to be taking his newfound lease on life for
granted.The irony is not lost with
the album title.

MY GRADE >> B (No “+” because they did not even
thank Carly Simon.) -sh-

VESTAVIA (John P. Strohm );
One of the best records (released 1999) I have heard this year. I have
heard of this guy before, but never bought a record. Throughout the 12 tracks,
Strohm melds tight musicianship with fine vocals, all in support of solid
songs. The first song (Wouldn't Want to Be Me) sets the tone for
the record, sounding like Tom Petty, except with energy and inspiration.
Some of the best lyrics are in Drive-Thru, which features Strohm musing
that "I've been living 11 miles from town/and it sucks without a
car." I guess so. Other top tunes are Ballad Of Lobster Boy,
Jesus Let Me In, Home, Better than Nothing, For Awhile.
In a just world, this record would get strong airplay on mainstream radio
stations - it is not "experimental" at all, just well-crafted,
original, tuneful rock and roll. However, in our world, you might have a
hard time finding the record. It is on Flat Earth Records, not exactly a
major label.

MY GRADE >> A+ (A must for the savvy collector!)

GLOBAL A GO-GO
(Joe
Strummer and the Mescaleros);
After ten years of doing virtually nothing musically, Joe Strummer has now
released his second album in three years. Both albums, Rock Art and the
X-Ray Style and the latest, Global A Go-Go are with his new band, The
Mescaleros. As he helped expand the sound of punk while with the Clash,
Strummer and the Mescaleros expand upon the reggae genre with a more
international flavor.

Bandmates Scott Shields, Martin Slattery, Pablo
Cook, Tymon Dogg, and Richard Flack are all over the globe, playing an
eclectic whirlwind of instruments. This solid band has created quite a
variety of music with influences from the Caribbean, Latin America, Africa,
the West Indies, and Ireland.

Strummer throws in an odd assortment of lyrics that range
from the absurdity of a David Lynch movie to the obscurity of a Dennis Miller
quip. However, his vocal limitations hinder some of the effective mood settings.

Johnny Appleseed starts off Global A Go-Go. It is an
excellent song in the folk/reggae mold. In our hour of need is the hope for
Johnny Appleseed. It is a pessimistic song of a world lacking in food and where
the door closes on Martin Luther King. "If you're after getting the
honey/Then you don't go killing all the bees." Following that up is the
most rock and roll song on the album, Cool 'N' Out. It is a guitar-driven,
hard-edge reggae song. God baked a bunch of fruitcakes. "They're all over
the country/And they're running ours." The title song, Global A Go-Go comes
up next with a message to the D.J. to send the music to all corners of the
globe. With the help of Roger Daltrey on vocals, they sing of "Quadrophenia
in Armenia." And there will be, "Good Hip Hop in Islamabad."
Rounding out the top four is the best song on the album, Bhindi Bhagee. This is
a fun song about a guy from New Zealand looking for some mushy peas. Informed
there are none (thank goodness), he is told that, among other things, there are,
"shrimp beansprout, comes with or without/Bagels soft, or simply
harder." Strummer tries to explain to the stranger what the music is all
about in this friendly neighborhood. And the band plays on with flutes and
African guitars. "There's a bunch of players and they're really letting
go."

These first four songs on Global A Go-Go are full of
infectious hand-clapping energy. The band is on a roll. It is global. But the
go-go got up and went with the next song, Gamma Ray. And the album never picks
back up where it started. Gamma Ray is weird in its unemotional reggae sound and
strange lyrics. It is safer in Indianapolis, Indiana, home of the gamma ray. It
is only the beginning of a slow strange ride. Mega Bottle Ride continues on with
the strangeness. "I took a tram into the fourth dimension…And don't think
we didn't dance/To the records by the Fifth Dimension." Shaktar Donetsk
flirts with reggae while Mondo Bongo goes the Latin way with Spanish guitar and
Cuban drums. Bummed Out City has an interesting mixture of acoustic guitars,
violins, and synthesizers. "It was me, I admit I had the map/This is what
I've got to say…/We're in Bummed Out City." At The Border, Guy is driven
by bass and keyboards and might have fit in well on the Clash's Combat Rock
album. A 17-minute plus Celtic mantra, Minstrel Boy concludes Global A
Go-Go. It
is a fitting end to this downward trend. Ironically, Strummer and the Mescaleros
put the brakes on the music right after singing about the players really letting
go. Global A Go-Go starts out with the typical in-your-face Joe Strummer style.
And although the songs are interesting individually, collectively the last 53
minutes of the album end up slipping into the background.

MY GRADE >> B- (The first four songs are excellent.
That is more than most albums can boast.) - sh -

ROCK ART AND THE X-RAY STYLE (Joe
Strummer and the Mescaleros); A very solid, surprising new
record from the former Clash front man, who has really done nothing of note
since the early 80s. This record is heavy on the reggae beats, with a few
modern day electronica flourishes tossed in. For the most part the songs
are languorous, easy-going affairs. The surprising part is how effective
Strummer's vocals are with these songs, rather than the loud, fast punk of his
youth. Most impressive, and the best song on the album, is Willesden to
Cricklewood, a recollection of a middle-aged man on his old stomping
grounds. Amid beautiful piano and strings, Strummer sings comfortably,
inhabiting the lyrics without overselling the sentimentality. It is easy
to visualize him walking in the old neighborhood, "from Willesden to
Cricklewood, as I went it all looked good/Thought about my babies grown, thought
about going home/thought about what's done is done, we're alive and that's the
one."

Other standouts are Tony Adams, Techno D-Day,
The Road to Rock 'n' Roll, Nitcomb, Diggin' the New and X-Ray
Style. It is great to hear something this good from a
"classic" artist that is not merely a replay or rewrite of his
greatest hits.

MY GRADE >> B+ (A record that really came out of nowhere to show
that Strummer still has something left for us to hear.)

THE GREATEST ROCK AND ROLL BAND IN THE WORLD (Supersuckers); These
guys are certainly not modest, and, as it turns out, they are not really
accurate. This is trailer park Ramones-like rockabilly, a bit more punk,
and way more profane than the Reverend Horton Heat. Think Social
Distortion with a sense of humor (which Mike Ness could use, come to think of
it.) Very politically incorrect, this is not for the kids or the easily
offended.

Essentially a greatest hits record from a band that has
never had one, this has its moments, but is overall nothing special. Maybe
these guys would be good live, probably in a biker bar. One good idea here
is the cover of Keith Richards' Before They Make Me Run, with vocals by
Steve Earle. Not executed particularly well, but a good idea
nonetheless. The CD cover art by Mitch McConnell is also really cool.

They are at their best when deviating from the punkabilly
songs. Notable are the humorous Dead in the Water (a career
comment), the countryish Roadworn and Weary, the southern boogie of Supersucker
Drive-By Blues, the Butthole Surfers-like faux-rap of Dead Homiez.
I also liked Born With a Tail and the rocked-up cover of Willie Nelson's
great Bloody Mary Morning and Wake Me When It's Over.

MY GRADE >>
C+ (A couple good songs sprinkled in among the run-of-the-mill bar band
rock)

SEPARATION ANXIETY (12 Rods); I
sure didn't get the appeal of this one. If they are going after the bright
shiny Apples in Stereo crowd, as it appears on Kaboom, they are not nearly
catchy enough. If they are going after what is left of the old Seattle
alt-rock crowd, as it appears on What Has Happened, the guitars are not
nearly crunchy enough.

The production is lame, the playing is weak, the lyrics
seem almost willfully thin.

Why does this seem like a throwback in every way to the
worst of 70s shlock-rock? Ah, here's why, buried deep in the liner notes -
"Produced, Recorded, Mixed and Mastered by Todd Rundgren"

This is what should have come with a warning sticker
-

BE AFRAID - BE VERY AFRAID!

Bad
"Classic" Rock Dude Heavily Involved With This Record

MY GRADE >> D (I found not one song I liked here.)
-jb-

LATERALUS (Tool);
Here we have the new record from Tool, the great white hope of progressive
metal. Better than anyone in this genre today, they are the successors
to Metallica (now merely cruising with power ballads and collaborations with
symphony orchestras; you know, "respectable" musicians) and
Soundgarden (imploded with the rest of the Seattle scene after Kurt
left.) On Lateralus, Tool brings some of the power, speed and
precision of early Metallica, but still falls victim to tired metal cliches.

The radio single Schism is probably the best song on here, with The
Patient also a highlight. Both songs feature the band absolutely
locked into a fearsome tempo; no machine could be more exact, despite some
tricky time signatures and chord changes. Disposition and Reflection
contain some of the more diverse music on the record. Reflection
even has some passages that could be described as Tortoise-like in its quieter
moments.

Lyrics are a highlight nowhere; even on The Patient, James Maynard
wails "A groan of tedium escapes me, startling the fearful./Is this a test?
It has to be. Otherwise I can't go on./Draining patience, drain vitality./This
paranoid, paralyzed vampire act's a little old" Uh, yeah, it is a
little. The lyrics are typical labored metal, not much of a step up from
the 70s progressive rock of Yes or Emerson Lake and Palmer, just a darker side
of the same coin.

Overall, the performances here are fine, but the record (and the band for
that matter) lacks the necessary ingredient of chaos that is crucial to pulling
off this dark kind of music. From the Stooges through Ministry and Nine
Inch Nails, the best artists make you feel like the music (and the performer) is
about to jump the track at any instant. Tool just tries to awe you with their
technical prowess.

MY GRADE >> C+ (State-of-the-art metal, with
the precise playing of early Metallica, but a little too much bombast, and not
enough risk-taking.)

STANDARDS (Tortoise);
Tortoise has carved a minor career, and an estimable critical reputation, by
heading into territory that most rock musicians would be completely lost in
- even with a map. This can be considered as brave risk-taking,
forsaking blatant commercial concerns. I, on the other hand, consider
it little more than instrumental wankery from a group of fine players who
did better work in better bands (Eleventh Dream Day, Poster Children.)

Tortoise's music is jazz-like in its use of repeated themes with a variation each time.
Yes, they are probably superb musicians, from both a physical and
intellectual standpoint.

Their compositions are well-crafted, but ultimately too clinical to rank with
the best jazz or rock music. Standards is a bit warmer than past
efforts. Seneca starts with feedback guitar, reminiscent of Jimi Hendrix'
Star
Spangled Banner, then fades into an appealing, but more Tortoise-like tune. Blackjack is
a nice tune with a swinging feel; it recalls an old (90s) Chicago band, the
Coctails. Speakeasy throws out some more distortion, before settling into a free and easy
close. There is also a nice 20 second percussion passage at the end of Eden
2.

Other than that, the songs float by like a lazy summer day - nothing
unpleasant, but nothing memorable. Tortoise may promise some feeling in Eros,
but the song is as far from erotic as the rest of the band's catalog.
Tortoise has the right idea. A musician, just like a good lover, needs to
be in tune with what is satisfying to himself, before he can begin to truly
satisfy others.

Still, I'm not sure that these guys get many dates.

MY GRADE >> C (They may impress each other and
their music professors, but not me.)

ALL THAT YOU CAN'T LEAVE BEHIND (U2);
U2 has been a band adrift for most of the '90s -- since their 1991 release Achtung
Baby. Looking to various styles and ideas on Zooropa and Pop,
they failed to connect with their audience. This, coming from the rarest of
bands, which did not just sing to their fans, but sang for them. U2 expressed
their fans' thoughts and feelings and they did so with energy and passion.

Now Bono is looking for a melody. He certainly finds it on All That You
Can't Leave Behind. Song for song this is a solid, very listenable
album. But get a little closer to the music and you find some awkwardness.
From Walk On you get, "A singing bird in an open cage, who will only
fly, only fly for freedom." This is followed not by the chorus "Fly
away, fly away," but by "Walk on, walk on." The lyrics to Wild
Honey seem to be all over the place. They are swinging from trees, he was a
monkey apparently tasting wild honey. Is the wild honey his shelter and shade?
And is the wild honey still growing wild? I don't get it! But it sounds good.

There are some excellent songs. Elevation and New York in
particular are very good. Peace On Earth reminds me of why I loved U2
throughout the '80s. And Kite gives us some insight into where the band
is right now. Bono sings, "Who's to say where the wind will take
you." They have been adrift for quite awhile and All That You Can't
Leave Behind too often floats off failing to connect. Overall, however --
though I might wish for more -- this is a good album. We can be thankful for Peace
on Earth and hope for more of the like in the future. As Bono continues on Kite,
"I know that this is not goodbye."

MY GRADE >> B+ (Classic U2 it is not, but it gives you a
fine reminder of what U2 used to be.)
-sh-

POOR LITTLE KNITTER ON THE ROAD (Various); This
is a tribute album to the country, honky tonk band, the Knitters, which was
basically a side project for the seminal L.A. punk band, X. Here,
their songs are performed by a roll call of alt-country elite, who generally
have a fine time. The standouts are Someone Like You, done by Kelly
Hogan and the Rock*A*Teens, Walkin' Cane (featuring some fine
fiddle work by Travis Good), by The Sadies with Catherine Irwin (of Freakwater),
Cryin But My Tears Are Far Away (featuring some fine country accordion,
and standout vocals by X's John Doe) by the Old 97s, a humorous The Call of
the Wreckin' Ball by the estimable Robbie Fulks, Baby Out of Jail by
99 Tales, and the previously unreleased Why Don't We Try Anymore by the
Knitters

MY GRADE >> B+ (an enjoyable record, demonstrating the continued
influence of John and Exene)

DOWN TO THE PROMISED LAND: 5 YEARS OF BLOODSHOT RECORDS (Various
Artists); A compilation record paying tribute to Chicago's
Bloodshot Records label on its five year anniversary, this double CD (for the
price of one!) is a real hoot. We get 40 songs, most of them wildly
enjoyable, a number of instant classics and only a few duds. Included are
pictures from shows by many of the label's acts, which only add to the sense of
fun on this record.

The ever-present and always valuable Jon Langford (essentially the one-man
house band for Bloodshot) is present on numerous songs, and in numerous of his
guises. He adds vocals to Alejandro Escovedo's superb take on Mick
Jagger's Evening Gown, which sounds like a Stones Sticky Fingers-era
song, but is actually from a 1993 Jagger solo record. He is featured on
the outstanding Brixton, Chip Taylor's tribute to the evolution of the
Chicago insurgent country scene (think of the Minutemen's History Lesson,
Part II and you've got the idea.) His Waco Brothers do a country cover
of Baba O'Riley with only modest success, and back Graham Parker on the
Waco's See Willy Fly By.

The song you have to hear, though, is The Unholy Trio's version of Public
Enemy's Bring The Noise. Taking a hardcore, beat-heavy, slang-laden
rap classic, they convert it to a true swinging country and western
hootenanny. The lyrics, of course, are meaningless out of context, but
that only adds to the enjoyment. While unlike anything I have heard on
Bloodshot releases, it exemplifies the spirit of the label. Take
inspiration from any valid source, and make it your own. I say again, you
must hear this song!

FREEDOM
SINGS (Various Artists);
This CD is a compilation of various artists who have performed as part of
the Freedom Sings program of musical concerts sponsored by the First
Amendment Center to raise awareness of the connection between music and the
First Amendment. The live performances feature a nice range of artists
performing well-chosen songs, some of which ran afoul
of those who would censor free expression. (See our interview with Ken
Paulson, Executive Director of the First Amendment Center in Assorted
Musings.)

As with any compilation the results are somewhat uneven, but ultimately rewarding due to several standouts. Jonell Mosser throws down a great house-rocking version of Annie
Had a Baby. Radney Foster and Freedom Sings musical director Bill
Lloyd perform a sensitive version of one of Elvis Presley's most underrated
songs, In the Ghetto. John Kay, formerly of Steppenwolf, gives a fascinating account of the story behind the
song The Pusher, as well as a fine acoustic version of the song. Ohio
(performed by Greg Trooper) and Eve of Destruction (performed by Tommy
Womack) are two old protest songs that have held up very well over the years,
and sound great here. Chip Taylor performs his own fine composition, Bigot's
Graveyard, as only he can - lyrically inventive, but almost too spare in its
instrumentation. You can't miss with Steve Earle, here with a beautiful Christmas
in Washington. Other good efforts include Street Fighting Man
(performed by Dan Baird, formerly of the Georgia Satellites), Good Rockin'
Tonight (Bill Lloyd) and Okie from Muskogee (performed by Rodney
Crowell, with tongue firmly in cheek.) The assembled performers conclude
with a nice version of This Land is Your Land, which never fails to
inspire.

While most of the songs and artists are firmly on the left
side of the political ledger, the overriding theme is an abiding faith in the
ability of music to move us - intellectually, physically, emotionally and
morally. Our lives would be poorer without the freedom to create and hear
these songs.

MY GRADE >> B+ (Many classic songs,
played with a real feeling for the historical significance and meaning.)

ELECTRIC WACO CHAIR (Waco Brothers);
The Waco Brothers Electric Waco Chair is, pardon me,
well executed. It has a glossier production quality than their
previous four recordings. The album starts off with a couple of
radio-friendly songs, It's Not Enough and, the better of the two, Make
Things Happen. They are followed by one of their best efforts about
the demon drink, Where The Mighty Fall. It is a mellow song with a guitar
sound reminiscent of Neil Young.

Electric Waco Chair continues on with several more interesting songs,
though it gets a bit soft around the middle. It does, however, end with four
good offerings. Nothing To Say sounds like the Smithereens with a serious
attitude, "Style over content and cash into crap." Fox River
rocks and rolls and floods, "You have to learn to live with your
fear." There is the bleak Tombstone, "I'll give up without a
fight." And the closer is quietly the best song on the album, Never
Real. Woody Guthrie would be proud.

After getting over the disappointment this was not like their 1997 Cowboy
In Flames, one of my favorite albums of the past decade, I enjoyed ElectricWacoChair more and more. There is still a little honky tonk, but
the punk is gone. There is more jangly guitar ala The Byrds; nevertheless, this
is a good album from the beginning that only gets better at the end.
Despite the ready-for-radio sound, it is clear by the end of these 13 songs that
The Waco Brothers are a little bitter about the lack of recognition. This is a
band and an album trying to Make Things Happen but for whatever reason It's Not
Enough.

Here's hoping they remain the unique Waco Brothers.

MY GRADE >> B (If it is not classic Wacos, it is still a
set of fine songs) -sh-

WEEZER (Weezer);
Weezer made a big splash in the mid 90s with the
irresistible Undone (The Sweater Song), and Buddy Holly (irresistible to
others, though not a favorite of mine.) Shortly thereafter, they went
on unofficial hiatus while lead singer Rivers Cuomo went back to
college. A strange thing happened. Their fan base became larger,
not smaller and got way more fanatical. I don't mean fanatical in the
Osama Bin Laden way, because Weezer fans are not like that. It was
more of a "Please get back together and put out a new record, please,
please, please?" Well, they did, and it was worth the wait, even
for us non-fanatics.

You won't find any overly adventurous Radiohead-type stuff here, just
straightforward melodic guitar rock. For the the most part, it is harder than you might think,
as on the radio hit, Hash Pipe. Don't Let Go is a rollicking
opener, with the catchy chorus and great guitar. On the mellow side is the superb Islands
in the Sun, with its carefree Caribbean vibe. It may be the best song
about lounging around in the nice weather, since Sly's Hot Fun in the
Summertime. Smile is not a mellow song, but definitely moves at a slower, almost sludgy
tempo, with excellent Lennonesque vocals. O Girlfriend is a top-notch closer, and a
wistful, yet hopeful song for the Weezer faithful.

Is there filler here? Sure, but Weezer is more of a great singles band,
anyway. They are in the firm power pop tradition of a 70s band called
Shoes from Zion, IL. They never made it as big as Weezer has, but they
turned out absolutely pure pop songs.

And, if you can find it, check out Starlight, which is the B-side from Hash Pipe single.
Does anybody know what a B-Side is anymore? For you young folks, it's the
extra song on a CD single. Anyway, Starlight is a great,
classically Weezer song.

MY GRADE >> B+ (Guitar-based pop music does not get much more
satisfying than Weezer, the new Pure Pop for Now People.)
-jb-

SUMMERTEETH (Wilco);
Critical favorites Wilco have finally made the album that deserves the praise
heaped on this Uncle Tupelo offshoot. This is an ambitious amalgam of
their alternative country background with pop music sensibilities and
instrumentation. The previous Wilco outing was a tremendous collaboration
with Billy Bragg, covering Woody Guthrie songs. Listening to Summerteeth,
it appears that their work on the Guthrie songs went far in loosening them
up. While Jeff Tweedy is still prone to overly precious lyrics, the
overall feel of this record is much more open than Wilco's previous
efforts.

When Uncle Tupelo broke up, we lost one great band; however, as my cousin Pat
Brett has pointed out, we gained two great bands in Son Volt and Wilco.
Son Volt has stuck more with the alternative country approach, and has put
together some fine records. Wilco was always more ambitious, and on the
Bragg collaboration and Summerteeth, the ambitions are finally backed up
by great songs. Highlights on this record are When You Wake Up Feeling
Old, In a Future Age, She's a Jar, Can't Stand It and Via
Chicago. Wilco has always been able to come up with fine songs here
and there; on Summerteeth, they have finally put together a consistently
fine record.

MY GRADE >> A (Highly recommended)

ESSENCE
(Lucinda Williams);
Essence is the follow-up to the sensational Car Wheels on a Gravel
Road, and
finds Ms. Williams in an exceptionally downbeat mood. Lacking the
up-tempo rockers of Car Wheels, she bores in on relationships in these
mid-tempo songs. And, these are not your happy, Herman's Hermits
"I'm into something good" type of relationship songs, but rather,
"sweet sad songs, sung by lonely girls." That lyric, from
the fine opener, Lonely Girls, sets the tone on Essence. The beautiful,
simple (and yes, poetic) lyrics on this song ("heavy blankets/cover
lonely girls...I oughta know/about lonely girls") should be sad, but
are instead strangely reassuring.

That reassuring tone begins to fade with Steal Your
Love,
as the desperation begins to mount. "I don't need a knife, I don't need a
gun/I know how to steal your love. I don't want your drugs, and I don't
want your money/I just wanna steal your love." Then, in I Envy the
Wind, Williams becomes jealous of the elements (wind, rain, sun) that touch her
(former?) lover. By the time we get to Blue, there is no doubting where
Williams is coming from. "We don't talk about heaven, and we don't
talk about hell/we've come to depend on each other so damn well...So go to
confession, whatever gets you through/You can count your blessings, I'll just
count on blue." Hey, cheer up, it's not that bad.

On
the fine title song, Williams' fire make a welcome return, both musically and
lyrically ("Baby, sweet baby, whisper my name/shoot your love into my
vein.") The most atypical song on Essence is the rollicking Get Right
With God. With lyrics steeped in the Old Testament (serpent's bites, bed
of nails, that type of thing), and bluesy riffs, this song gives the band a
chance to stretch out more than anywhere else on the record. Her band on
Essence is sympathetic to Williams' mood, and offers accomplished backing.
Especially noteworthy is some tasteful guitar work by Bo Ramsey and the Hammond
organ of Reese Wynans on Are You Down and the title song.

While
not quite as good as Car Wheels, Essence has some wonderful moments. Williams is
an excellent, if occasionally overwrought, songwriter. As a vocalist, she
has few peers. Give me her anytime over the overrated yelpings of Bjork.

WHAT I DESERVE (Kelly Willis);
I had seen her music recommended by some critics, and this is the first of her
records I've bought. I must note that it is only in the last several years
that I have begun to enjoy some good country music, thanks mainly to spending a
lot of time with some of my Houston friends. I tend to prefer my country
music more on the honky-tonkin' side (prime example is the Waco Brothers), or
the very traditional (prime example is Freakwater.) While this CD is
fairly straightforward middle of the road country music, it grew on me after a
few listens.

Let's be blunt - most of "popular" country music is awful.
The idea that Shania Twain has anything at all in common with genuine country
music, or any good music for that matter, is laughable. Her producer was
the brains (and I use that term loosely) behind Def Leppard! She has more
in common with those hair metal 80s bands than she does with Patsy
Cline.

Okay, enough of that tangent. Kelly Willis has a fine voice and it is
well-utilized on most of the tracks here. The pace is all mid-tempo,
causing too many of the tracks to sound alike, and it all seems a little too
laid back. Best song is They're Blind, written by Paul Westerberg
of the late, lamented Replacements. I also like Take Me Down, What I
Deserve (both co-written with Gary Louris, of the Jayhawks and the excellent
Golden Smog) and Not Forgotten You.

MY GRADE >> B- (Nothing special, but some redeeming qualities)

TOP RECORDS OF THE NINETIES!

1. EXILE IN GUYVILLE (Liz
Phair); Reclaims/updates the singer/songwriter label from James Taylor and Carole King, and also makes the rhythm guitar cooler than anybody since Keith
Richards.

2. IN CASE YOU DIDN'T FEEL LIKE SHOWING UP (Ministry); Absolutely fearsome, the hardest band ever at the height of their genre. Pure industrial rock, with a driving beat, metal guitars, and tortured vocals. As good as NIN is, Trent Reznor will never catch what Al Jourgenson was pulling off at this time.

3. SIAMESE DREAM (Smashing Pumpkins); Classic Rock in the best sense of the term.
Combined power chords and melody brilliantly, and was very well recorded. I like this better than
Mellon Collie, because it was more concise. I did admire the experimentation on
MC, but Adore really fell apart for me.

4. LIVE THROUGH THIS (Hole); Absolutely great record; no real bad songs, and many great ones. Kurt's influence is undeniable, but it ultimately doesn't matter. If this is merely a Nirvana album with Courtney singing, that it is at least one more Nirvana album for us.

5. I FEEL ALRIGHT (Steve Earle); A tremendous songwriter, inventive vocalist and fearsome guitarist, Earle is the spirit of great country music with the intensity of rock. These are great songs from a guy who probably thought he'd never get another chance.

6. UNPLUGGED (Nirvana); Fantastic record featuring some revelatory covers and rearranged versions of their own songs. This reveals that Kurt Cobain was more than a shouter; he was a brilliant interpreter of a lyric. The old blues tune, Where Did You Sleep Last Night, is the best evidence on this count, but the other covers are also superb.

7. RITUAL DE LO HABITUAL (Jane's Addiction); Perry Farrell is one weird dude, but he began the alternative groundswell that Nirvana topped off. I liked just about every song here, and the band's musicianship is great,
even though it was overshadowed by Farrell's persona.

8. PAINFUL (Yo La Tengo); Fine recording by one of my favorite bands. A slow, haunting version of Big Day Coming is followed later by a tremendous rocking version of the same song. I Heard You Looking, Nowhere Near, Sudden Organ and others show a great band at the top of their game. Their other work this decade has been
nearly as good.

9. I DO NOT WANT WHAT I HAVEN'T GOT (Sinead
O'Connor); Great voice, great songs and fine production, before Sinead got too strident. I Am Stretched on Your Grave is a fine industrial techno thing ahead of its time, but the stars are the low-key songs that allow the power of the voice and lyrics to shine through. The Last Day of Our Acquaintance, Nothing Compares 2 U (written by Prince), Black Boys on
Mopeds, and Three Babies are great examples. The Emperor's New Clothes is a standout rocker.

10. FEELS LIKE THE THIRD TIME (Freakwater); Many standout tracks, all with sardonic and sweet old-time country lyrics and beautiful female harmony. My Old Drunk Friend is a great song title and a better song.
This includes the great line, "And my logic just seems more clear/with
every bottle of beer." Are You Ready, You Make Me, Pale Horse and Lullaby are the best of a good lot. The wonderful album title (and cover photo) is a great play on the old bad Foreigner song, Feels Like the First Time.

11. Transmissions from the Satelite Heart
(Flaming Lips);
Great, weird music from a very strange band from Oklahoma of all places. Turn It On, She Don't Use Jelly, Slow Nerve Action and When Yer Twenty Two are the best, but others are worth hearing.
Greg Kot brought this band to my attention. Flaming Lips could have really
taken off in the "alternative" movement, but they just kept getting
wierder.

12. Automatic for the People
(REM);More great songs from a band that really hit their stride with
this and their last couple records. Everybody Hurts is a wonderful, aching song. Man On the Moon, about comedian Andy Kaufman, is a wonderfully wistful song. Ignoreland, Nightswimming and Drive are just solid "Classic" rockers.
REM was certainly the most consistently great band of the 90s.

13. Nevermind (Nirvana); "GRUNGE" ; really good songs, played and recorded well. Smells Like Teen Spirit kicked off 8 years and counting for the Alternative Revolution - the first 5 years were pretty good. In Bloom, Breed, Lithium,
Territorial Pissings and On A Plain are quality blend of punk and classic rock.
That was the key to the alternative scene - punk rockers realizing that melody
("hooks") mattered. Nirvana's breakthrough made a lot of money
for a bunch of garage rockers, but ultimately cost us Kurt Cobain.

14. Dead Man Walking
(Movie Soundtrack);
Great songs from a very good movie. Bruce Springsteen 's title cut is among his best work in years, but he is topped by Mary Chapin carpenter's title song (a different one), and Steve Earle's Ellis Unit One, which is the song Bruce has been trying to make for the last 10 years. An excellent Johnny Cash song, a fine Michelle Shocked song, and two outstanding duets between Eddie Vedder and Pakistani singer Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. Great songs that also evoke a true sense of the movie.

15. Natural Born Killers
(Movie Soundtrack), Absolutely wonderful soundtrack record from a spectacular and bizarre movie. This is truly a soundtrack, featuring music and dialogue from the movie; both are chosen and produced well by Trent Reznor. Two Leonard Cohen songs, Waiting for the Miracle and The Future are good bookends. Features oldies - Dylan's You Belong to Me, Patsy Cline's Back in Baby's Arms, Patti
Smith; industrial - NIN's Burn, Lard's Forkboy - rap - Tha Dogg Pound and Dr.
Dre, plus L7 and Drums a Go-Go. Almost no misses on the entire CD.

16. Car Wheels on a Gravel Road
(Lucinda Williams);
She supposedly spent years (and drove initial producer Steve Earle crazy) trying
to make a perfect record. This is almost it. Country flavored songs
with a rock and roll attitude. The recording and playing are very clean,
while Williams' singing is imperfect in just the right way. Her voice is
not classically good (she's no diva, thank God!), but her vocals fit the lyric
like barbecue sauce on the rib. Can't Let Go is my favorite here.
Also, the title song, Joy and I Still Long For Your Kiss.